THE RIVER ILI – Wang Jingguang @ Athens: Alkionis Art Cinema, 20/10/15, 24:00

Synopsis: On a pasture on the the Ili River there lived a Muslim family—Yusuf, Fatimah, and their son, Arsal. Arsal’s parents took him on horseback across a dangerously deep river every day to school and back. Despite the danger, they persisted. Though Arsal was adopted, they cared for him as their own. Indeed, they lived in constant fear that Arsal may one day discover the truth. From an early age, Arsal showed an interest in the rocks on the riverbank. The boy eventually began studying jade carving from a Kazak businessman from town. Their little family lived quite happily, until one day Yusuf and his horse were washed away by the swift current one day as he was crossing the river. The police could not find his body. The burden of daily life then fell heavily upon Fatimah’s shoulders. She never gave up hope that he would return one day. Then Fatimah’s greatest fear came true. Arsal’s biological mother, Su Ya, had a chance meeting with the him at the shop where he was studying jade sculpting. Su Ya, herself a successful jade sculptor, eventually took Arsal back to Shanghai. After Arsal left, Fatimah attended to her work alone, quietly waiting for Yusuf to return. In the end, suffering from a terminal illness, Fatimah sat waiting for Arsal, who had just got accepted to college, and her long lost husband Yusuf to return. When that day finally came, Arsal and Yusuf met by chance on a ferry across the river. However when the two arrived at that old log cabin on the pasture, they discovered they were too late…

2013, CHINA

Producer: Jindaoxinxin

Director: Wang Jingguang

Starring: Wanglan Juanzi, Zhangyulong Zhouhaodong

Genre: Drama

Duration: 106′

Dialogues: Chinese

Subtitles: Hellenic & English