Jia Zhangke's movie screened at Cannes to compete for Palme d'Or

Chinese director Jia Zhangke' s latest film Shan He Gu Ren (Mountains May Depart), was screened Wednesday in Cannes to compete for Palme d'Or at the ongoing 68th Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) .

China, 1999. Childhood friends Liangzi and Zhang are both in love with Tao, the town beauty. Tao eventually decides to marry the wealthier Zhang. They soon have a son he names Duole. From China to Australia, the lives, loves, hopes and disillusions of a family over two generations in a society changing at breakneck speed.

"In the past two or three years, I have always wanted to make a film about affections. I have some new understandings of affections, so I want to show them. Besides, the changes in the society are also changing how people express their affections," said Jia Zhangke, explaining why he wanted to make Shan He Gu Ren.

For Jia, the movie is about human affections, and how time can change them. In his movie, there are three time frames, 1999, 2014 and 2025. The goal, according to him, is to show what kind of new understanding people have of affections.

Asked about if Chinese movies are in a trend to be filmed in English just as Shan He Gu Ren, Jia said: "a man who lost his mother tongue, can really return to his hometown? That's one of the questions this movie poses."

"In this rapid changing world, something needs changing, while something needs preserving and protecting, such as languages," he said.

This is the fourth time that Jia Zhangke's movie is competing for Palme d'Or of Festival de Cannes, after Ren Xiao Yao in 2002, Er Shi Cheng Ji in 2008 and A Touch of Sin in 2013. In 2013, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the 66th Festival de Cannes, and served as a jury member in 2014.

A total of 19 films were selected to compete for the top prize Palme d'Or. The 68th Festival de Cannes runs from May 13 to 24.