A river runs its course

The Red River links the northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai with Hekou county in China's Yunnan province. It is also the inspiration for the film, Red River, by Chinese director Zhang Jiarui. A tragic and beautiful love story, whose background is the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Red River tells the story of A Tao, a mentally-challenged Vietnamese girl played by Zhang Jingchu.

Set in a tiny border town between China and Vietnam in 1977, the film begins with A Tao, who loses her mental balance after seeing her father killed by a mine planted during the war. Twenty-three years later, A Tao grows into a beautiful young woman with a childlike innocence that masks a simmering inner turmoil. She crosses into China and links with her domineering aunt working in her small frontier massage parlor - famous for its colorful clientele. Red River marks the third cinematic collaboration between director Zhang Jiarui and mainland actress Zhang Jingchu. In their first collaboration, Huangyao Bride in Shangrila in 2005, Zhang tossed aside her gentle and quiet image to play a rather rebellious woman Fengmei trying to join and revolutionize a men's dragon-dancing team. One year later in The Road, Zhang played a ticket seller whose love affair with a local doctor spans more than three decades. Zhang also starred in Jackie Chan's Rush Hour 3.

Other films also shown at cinemas this weekend include: