Steelworker Nangong Cheng is dying from an infected wound when he encounters Zhuang, a stranger with a similar affliction seeking vengeance for his murdered wife. Cheng, a disciple of a traditional martial-healing sect, must use his final strength to help him.
Is there still room for heroic chivalry in our lives? Can Jianghu, the mythical realm of China’s knight-errants, exist in the midst of our modern world? Filmmaker Shao Pan believes so, and makes his case with his debut fiction feature Nangong Cheng. Cheng works in a steel mill and is dying from a poisoned wound that has been festering for far too long. His fate seems sealed. Then a stranger named Zhuang enters his life, suffering from a mysterious ailment of his own, one for which Cheng appears to know the cure, as a disciple of a secret martial-healing sect.
The plot expands into a tale of revenge, atonement and grace, of confronting the past as much as battling the undying forces of corruption. In doing so, the film raises one of the most fundamental questions of our time: is it still possible to live according to principle when the world around us seems to have surrendered to the corrosive pull of transactional relativism?
The answer offered by Shao’s astonishing debut is clear: how could we live otherwise?
– Vanja Kaludjercic
Film details
Country of production
China
Year
2026
Festival edition
IFFR 2026
Length
197′
Medium/Format
DCP
Language
Chinese
Premiere status
World premiere
Principal cast
Shao Pan, Yu Bolai, Li Yue
Director
Shao Pan
Producer
Shao Pan
Screenplay
Shao Pan
Cinematography
Xiaohan Dong
Editing
Shao Pan
Production design
Ruoran Zhang
Sound design
Shao Pan
Music
Shao Pan
Production company
Taijixia Films
Sales / World rights holder
Taijixia Films
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