A fantasy romance on Yangtze that nurtured Chinese civilization.

A Berlinale Silver Bear winner from master cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing (In the Mood for Love, The Assassin), this mysterious, sublime and elegiac odyssey blends breathtaking images of the river that has nurtured Chinese civilization with fantasy, poetry and history to create a complex universe. From the spinning Shanghai metropolis to snow-capped Tibet mountains, Gao Chun steers a cargo up the Yangtze and comes across a reversely aging woman named An Lu at every port recorded in a poetry book.

He wonders whether she is supernatural or he is traveling back in time. After passing a pagoda that reverberates Buddha's voice, a flooded town reappeared elsewhere and the grandiose Three Gorges Dam, he finally arrives at the start of the river and unveils the secret of his past and An Lu.

• North American version Trailer
• Short Film MESSENGER'S FOUR CHAPTERS
• Essay from Film Scholar Bart Testa