Lee Sinje Brings Dead Tide to Pingyao and Wraps Directing Debut Wanita
Actor Lee Sinje arrived at Pingyao with two jobs. She sat on the jury. She also premiered a film she helped create.
Dead Tide had its world premiere in Hidden Dragons, the competition strand for Chinese-language films at the 10th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival, according to Variety. The film was directed by Kethsvin Chee, who co-wrote the script with Lee. Lee also co-produced the picture. It tells the story of a sudden romance between a woman driven to madness by abuse and a man just released from prison.
The project took a familiar festival route to the screen. It was selected for the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, a market where filmmakers pitch unfinished projects to buyers and funders, and won the La Fonte Award there. Producer Jin Ong later boarded the film, according to New Straits Times. Lee and Chee had worked together before. In 2023, each directed an episode of the education documentary series Dear Child, How Are You?
At the same festival, Lee served on the jury for the Crouching Tigers international competition. The 10th edition was scheduled for Sept. 24-30 in Pingyao, Shanxi province, according to China Daily. Dead Tide was one of three world premieres in Hidden Dragons, according to Variety.
Lee did not come to Shanxi only as an actor and writer. Her first feature as director, Wanita, had wrapped shortly before the festival. The title means “woman” in Malay. She co-wrote it with Malaysian writer Ang Siew Hoong. Editor Oxide Pang cut the film in parallel with the shoot.
The shoot is done. Post-production continues without AI assistance, and the film is expected to be finished next spring in time for festival submissions.
What makes this run stand out is the pace. Lee leaves Pingyao for the stage. She returns to theatre in Edward Lam’s musical The Xue Baochai Moments, adapted from Dream of the Red Chamber, which runs in Hong Kong Nov. 13-15. Then in December she heads back to Malaysia to star in a horror film.
Pingyao itself balanced new work with film history. Ann Hui On-wah led the Fei Mu Awards jury, while Carlo Chatrian, director of the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, chaired the Roberto Rossellini Awards jury. A 4K restoration of Spring in a Small Town and Good Trip bookended the programme, according to Deadline. Festival founder Jia Zhangke’s short Torino Shadow played on Fenjiu Night.
