Parallax Films shops new films by Shao, Yang and Yin at Busan market
Parallax Films has brought new work by three Chinese women directors to buyers at the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) in Busan.
The company, a sales agent that licenses screening rights to distributors country by country, is shopping titles by Shao Yihui, Yang Lina and Yin Lichuan, as reported by Variety on Oct. 12, 2026.
Yin Lichuan's feature A Joke is on the slate. It is billed as the first Chinese feature to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. The story follows a sanitation worker who collects proof against her abusive boss. The proof takes three years. She then joins a young lawyer to expose him.
Yang Lina's It's OK reteams the director with Wen Qi, a winner at Taiwan's Golden Horse film awards. Wen plays a young teacher hit by an urgent health crisis. She must also face a quiet, unspoken tension with her traditional mother.
Shao Yihui arrives with the short film Winning at Sleep. It centres on an everyday girl given a chance at glory through an unusual contest. Shao broke out with B for Busy, released in 2021.
Yin's Like a Rolling Stone and Shao's Her Story earned more than RMB845 million ($118 million) combined in China, according to Variety on Oct. 12, 2026. Her Story then won best picture, best actress and best supporting actress at the 38th Golden Rooster Awards, China's national film prizes.
Parallax is pairing the new titles with shorts that already carry festival wins. Our Secrets won the Lights On Women's Worth Award in La Cinef, the Cannes selection for film-school and short work. Linka Linka won the Firebird and Fipresci prizes at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Anuparna Roy's Lovers in the Blue Night won the Netpac Award at Venice.
The slate reaches beyond China. Parallax added Japanese hybrid documentary Masayume, which mixes staged scenes with real life, to its catalogue last year. That film is now set for a North American release in spring 2027. Parallax operates as the international sales arm for Midnight Blur Films and presents itself as a seller of varied Asian films to the world.
Parallax has sold at Busan before. It previously handled sales for two features and a short at the Shanghai Film Festival. It also boarded Choy Ji's Borrowed Time, which competed in the New Currents section at Busan, as reported by Screen Daily in 2023.
What makes this stand out is the mix. Established directors with cinema releases sit beside short filmmakers fresh from Cannes, Hong Kong and Venice. For fans, this means deals cut in Busan decide which of these stories get subtitles, distributors and screens far from home.
