The film depicts a Chinese middle-class woman’s reawakening, beneath the surface of a love story spanning Europe and China. College lecturer Shu falls madly in love with a theatre director during a work trip to Europe. But with a fiancé and a decent middle-class life waiting for her in China, Shu faces a dilemma that has deep societal consequences.
“Often, marriages and relationships in China are built upon wealth and financial stability over love. Or, as most Chinese people believe, love and happiness thrive on financial confidence and stability. All my friends were living a stable, comfortable middle class life. Meanwhile, an impulse to break the shackles of ordinary life is brewing in almost everyone’s mind. My story was inspired by this reality,” director/scriptwriter Ran Li told FNE.
The film was produced by Ran Li through Bunnylake Production (China) in coproduction with Michal Sikora through Lonely Production (Czech Republic) and Attention Productions (China). Michal Sikora is the executive producer. The budget was 1.5 m EUR / 36,855,000 CZK.
The film was shot in 2020 for 17 days (in June) in China and for 22 days (September – October) in the Czech Republic. The postproduction was done in China in one year.
What Michal Sikora from Czech Lonely Production found appealing in the story was how it questions our search for identity throughout different geographical coordinates. “Till Love Do Us Part is about different values and perspectives, Eastern and Western, and the core question, what ‘love’ means, and the never-ending journey of finding who we are and what we need,” added Michal Sikora.
The sales agency for Europe is in negotiations. The distribution for China is yet to be confirmed after the world premiere.
Ran Li is a Chinese screenwriter/ director based in Beijing and Prague. Having originally pursued a career in law, she switched her focus to filmmaking after a formative trip to Europe, where she graduated from the Prague Film School in 2016. Her short films have been selected for more than 60 film festivals and won over 20 awards worldwide.
Production Information:
Producer:
Bunnylake Production (China)
Lonely Production (Czech Republic)
Attention Productions (China)
Credits:
Director: Ran Li
Scriptwriter: Ran Li
DoP: Hu Chen
Music: Yehezkel Raz
Cast: Liang Cuishan, Zhang Ninghao, Anežka Kalivodová, Chi-Hua Lee-Secci, Chun Fai Wan, Abigail Rice, Tina Afiyan Breiová, Jakub Rezek, Kristína Martanovičová, Lukáš Bliss Bláha, Eva Stará, Dáša Horváthová, Karolína Křížková, Martin Kadrnožka, Lukáš Bernáth, Beatriz Abrisqueta, Reesi Elisabeth, Anna Patočková, Zuzana Páleníková, Patrik Holubář
