Pingyao Project Promotion 2025: Full Line-Up
China’s Pingyao International Film Festival (September 24-30) has selected 16 projects for this year’s Pingyao Project Promotion (PPP), including two projects from filmmakers in Shanxi province.
This year’s PPP will also include a selection of 15 literary works, from short stories to full-length ficion, that are being presented as suitable for adaptation.
Pingyao Project Promotion is a financing platform for Chinese-language projects with completed scripts. The event takes place during the Pingyao International Fim Festival (PYIFF), founded by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke in the ancient city of Pingyao, Shanxi province.
The festival screens Chinese and international cinema with two competition sections dedicated to new talent - the Hidden Dragons section for emerging Chinese filmmakers, and the Crouching Tigers section for emerging international filmmakers.
PINGYAO PROJECT PROMOTION (PPP) 2025:
[Listed Alphabetically By Chinese Pinyin Title]
Solace Unfound
Screenwriter: Yun Xi, Liu Bing
Director: Liu Bing
Logline: The story of Sir Chou and his aging wife, who, beset by odious neighbours, find no respite from their incessant vexations, forever shuffle to and from between their daughter’s house, a Sanya settlement, and their vulnerable old residence back in the garden of their past, with no place to call home.
Grassland Ska!
Screenwriter & Director: Song Dongxu
Logline: In the summer on the grassland, four Inner Mongolians and a Hong Konger embark on a hippie journey inspired by the god of wine and the forces of nature.
Trash Punk
Screenwriter & Director: Hao
Logline: A loser youth determined to prove the existence of loops, and an eccentric farmer obsessed with returning to the golden age—together, they use punk music and a tractor to throw the small town’s space-time into chaos.
A Cut Above [Shanxi Project]
Screenwriter: Jian Haodong, Guo Shiwei
Director: Jian Haodong
Logline: Shamate youth Weidong, while homeless, stumbles into a barbershop and becomes an apprentice to Yufeng. Initially, the two clash due to their contrasting personalities, but a sudden earthquake irrevocably ties their fates together. Over the following decade, from flamboyant Shamate styles to clean-cut short hair, they gradually undergo a “makeover”, reshaping each other's lives through collisions and explorations of life.
Boys By The Sea
Screenwriter & Director: Deng Qiaoshan
Logline: In a fishing town at the turn of the millennium, a Korean boy becomes entangled in a gang rivalry with Shandong youths, only to stumble into an adult crime that reshapes the fate of the town through his courage, innocence and ideals.
Everyday
Screenwriter: Zhao Ningyu
Director: Zhao Ningyu, Chen Liang, Guo Qing
Logline: From dawn to dawn, through a nine-linked structure, small events of twenty-four hours between some people and others are narrated.
The Flower Seller
Screenwriter & Director: Emetjan Memet
Logline: A depressed man meets a mysterious flower seller and enters a surreal world that rekindles his will to live.
The Songs We Never Sang
Screenwriter: Wang Ruiyuan, Wang Xiying
Director: Wang Xiying, Wang Ruiyuan
Logline: Visiting the “dead child” in the air-raid shelter not only forged heroes but also gave rise to bullying; eleven-year-old Ouo wanted to know what was inside and what everyone was afraid of.
Girl Crush
Screenwriter & Director: Ravine Yang
Logline: The heroine from a chick-flick TV drama accidentally crashes into the real world of 2025, where she encounters a 30-year-old modern feminist. Together they set off on a journey of adventure and self-discovery.
The Killer Has No Weekend
Screenwriter: Ma Huaichang, Xu Xiao
Logline: A top assassin's mission is derailed when he discovers his target's office is a deadlier warzone than any he's ever known, leading him to unite the staff for a final showdown.
Echoes Of The Sacrifices
Screenwriter & Director: Tan Xiacen
Logline: A fierce bull sacrifice, a perilous smuggling journey, two murders, and two men teetering on the edge — live or die.
Good, Bye [Shanxi Project]
Screenwriter: An Jingyi, Xie Liyi
Director: An Jingyi
Logline: An undertaker in love with a black widow, a tiger mom battles her unruly daughter, and a seventy-year-old grandpa throws punches on the street—love, death, absurdity: isn’t that what life is all about?
Believe In The Future
Screenwriter: Sheng Zhimin, Lei Sheng
Director: Sheng Zhimin
Logline: Shen Cong has lived under the shadow of her mother’s abandonment since childhood. When she finally gains a long-awaited chance to reconnect, their staged meeting unravels into confrontation, pain and love—while the era itself yawns between them like an unbridgeable chasm.
Take It Easy
Screenwriter & Director: Qi Linlin
Logline: Gao Zhaozhao, a marriage-skeptic, unexpectedly enters the wedding industry. This film deconstructs traditional narratives of love and marriage by leveraging the dramatic tension of “organizing weddings while disbelieving in marriage”.
Terrible Us
Screenwriter & Director: Gu Yiying
Logline: After Lin Xiaocao’s drowning, Yang Ruian unexpectedly crosses paths with Lin Ke. Both believe they are responsible for her death, but through each other they find reconciliation. In all our flaws, we remain deserving of love.
Three-Life Stone
Screenwriter & Director: Guo Qianhui
Logline: Jiang Chen balances his life between creating comics and working as a designated driver, until one night he picks up a mysterious client named Jin Ya, which brings challenges and transformations to both his comic world and reality.
LITERARY PICTURIZED PROJECT (LPP)
[Listed Alphabetically By Chinese pinyin title]
Pattaya – The Birth Of A Movie
Writer: Xu Xiaobin
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Dangdai Bimonthly
The Last Snow
Writer: Hai Fei
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: People's Literature Magazine
Ocean Wind
Writer: Zhao Defa
Literary genre: Full-length fiction
Publisher: The Writers Publishing House Co
To The Mountains We Belong
Writer: Bi Shumin
Literary genre: Full-length fiction
Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House
The Old Herbalist And His Daughter
Writer: Nan Xiang
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Beijing October Arts And Literature Publishing House
That Person
Writer: Zhou Xuanpu
Literary genre: Anthology of short and medium-length fiction
Publisher: Taibai Literature & Art Publishing House
Even A Single Thought
Writer: He Liwei
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Lotus Literary Bimonthly
Tales Of The Taihang Mountains
Writer: A Ning
Literary genre: Full-length fiction
Publisher: China Youth Publishing Group
The Best Fields Under Heaven
Writer: Liu An
Literary genre: Full-length fiction
Publisher: The Writers Publishing House Co
All That Doesn't Matter
Writer: Zhe Gui
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House
Don't Lie About Little Things
Writer: A Cheng
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Writer Magazine
Many Trees
Writer: Ye Mi
Literary genre: Short-length fiction
Publisher: Original Fiction Monthly, Baihua Literature & Art Publishing House
Night Rain Sent To The North
Writer: Li Xiuwen
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Guangdong Flower City Publishing House Co
Lights On Fishing Boats
Writer: Hen Nian
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Dangdai Bimonthly
The Self-Healers
Writer: Lao Teng
Literary genre: Medium-length fiction
Publisher: Lotus Literary Bimonthly
