King of Peking
Jing Cheng Zhi Wang
Genial comedy about a Chinese film projectionist who starts a bootleg DVD operation with his movie-obsessed son.
Gallery
Credits
Dir-Scr Sam Voutas
Prod Jane Zheng, Melanie Ansley
With Zhao Jun, Wang Naixun, Han Qing
China-USA-Australia
2017
88min
Sales XYZ Films
When a father and son’s film projection business goes up in flames, they’re forced to resort to DVD piracy in this warm-hearted, Beijing-set comedy. As movie lovers and budding entrepreneurs, Big Wong and Little Wong have it made: hustling through 1990s Beijing with their reel-to-reel projector, screening films cheaply to appreciative audiences. But following a fire that destroys his business, Big Wong’s child support payments dry up and his life with his boy is threatened. When he discovers abandoned DVD recorders in a cinema basement, he starts bootlegging movies to reignite their business. But isn’t illegal copying, albeit in a protective, state-run industry, a tricky ideology to justify? Australian writer-director Sam Voutas’ Mandarin-language comedy is a scrappy charmer (and a sneaky critique of burgeoning Chinese capitalism), featuring two lovely lead performances that, befitting a film about cinephiles, evoke beloved classics from Kramer vs. Kramer to Cinema Paradiso.
Leigh Singer
Festival guests
These members of the filmmaking team are expected to attend the festival:
- Sam Voutas, Director
See the full list of visiting festival guests. Please note that we can't guarantee guest attendance at any particular screening.
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2018 Festival submissions
2018 BFI London Film Festival submissions are now open.