TILL LOVE DO US PART
A Film by Ran Li
2022_FEATURE_FILM
World Premiere at 38th Warsaw International Film Festival 2022US Premiere at Cinequest - San Jose 2023Pingyao International Film Festival 2023Jury's Special Mention at Odyssey Film Festival 2023Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival 2023 Athens International Film and Video Festival 2023Winner Best Debut Director at Dada Saheb Phalke 2023International Film Festival of Uruguay 2023Kino na hranici / Kino na Granicy 2023St. Louis International Film FestivalDuring a work trip to Europe, 30 year-old college lecturer, Shu, falls madly in love with a theater director in Prague. With a fiancé and decent middle class life waiting for her back in China, Shu faces the biggest dilemma of her life.
Ran’s debut feature film premieres in Competition 1-2 of the 38th Warsaw International Film Festival 2022.
China’s middle class is rising rapidly. “Till Love Do Us Part” is an inner journey of a Chinese middle class woman’s self-realization and the awakening of her consciousness. Beneath the surface of a love story, the film is also about differing values and perspectives within the East and West, the meaning of ‘love’, and the never-ending journey of finding who we are and what we need.
MAKING OF
Entering the 21st century, Chinese women are fighting a different battle. What they resist is no longer physical oppression or poor living condition, but suppression of the mind to pursue “who they want to be”.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
As a writer-director, I hope my film reflects my authentic life experience. Born in Beijing, I graduated from Tsinghua University School of Law. I then took a scholarship opportunity in Europe. Four years of studying abroad brought me a new understanding of life. Eventually I switched my focus from law to filmmaking.
In 2016, I returned to Beijing and started a new chapter in life. All my friends were living a stable, comfortable middle-class life–but an impulse to break the shackles of ordinary life was brewing in almost everyone’s mind. My story is inspired by this reality.
The film is centered on realistic characters and stories, handheld photography with a sense of breathing, all within a naturalistic narrative atmosphere. Through the plots–taking place in China and Europe–we experience the transformation of the heroine‘s outlook on love and life. I want the film to have no intentional moral implication or social agenda. Everything evolves around the characters, in the moment, grounded and natural.
director Ran Li
CAST
Cuishan LiangShu
Cuishan Liang as Shu
Cuishan Liang is an actress who specializes in stage theater. She has worked with French theater director Philippe Gaulier. She began her film career in 2018 and starred in award winning films including “Cloud in Her Room” (IFFR Golden Tiger 2020) by director Zheng Lu Xin Yuan.
Ninghao Zhang Fan
Ninghao Zhang as Fan
Ninghao Zhang is an actor and musician, who graduated from Shanghai Theater Academy. He works with Japanese theater master Suzuki Tadashi in Japan. His most recent work is “Stars Await Us” (Tallin Black Nights Film Festival 2020).
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
CREW
WO MEN BU NENG BAI TOU XIE LAO | FEATURE FILM | 110 MIN. | 2022 | CHINA, CZECH REPUBLIC
director: Ran Li executive producer: Michal Sikora dop: Hu Chen b-cam operator: Ondřej Belica focus pullers: Zaher Jureidini, Mithila Joshi, Branko Avramovski, Nicole Goode 2nd ac: Jin-Yuan Liu, Martin Dvořáček, Mihir Kulkarni steadicam: Patrick Gregg 1st ad: Sheida Sheikhha 2nd ad: Xueni Yang production: Antonie Dědečková, Ivan Kubál, Donika Žánová, Olga Sochorová, Holden McNeil extras: KN Casting – Kamil Novák, Alice Kalová
gaffing team: Murat Emkuzhev, Kamil Zvoníček, Bruno Grandino, Riyana Lama sound: Martin Karel Klusoň, Elena Omura, Pavel Vrtěl, Václav Zlo production design: John Laing, Jennifer M. Bailey costume: Klára Toráčová, Arina Taylasheva make-up artist: Miroslava Mirinda photographer: Sára Kaňaková
Festival Report: TILL LOVE DO US PART premieres at WIFF
Writer-director Ran Li’s film was one of 15 international films screened in the “Competition 1-2” section of the prestigious Polish festival. Our film centers around Shu—a young, professional woman who longs to steer away from the traditional path paved for her by Chinese society. She silently endures her fate, until mainstream and materialistic society beats […]