About
This May, BACCS Cinema is presenting two new films by different filmmakers: Caught by the Tides, the latest drama from Director Jia Zhangke, and Blue Sun Palace, the very first drama by filmmaker Constance Tsang.
Caught by the Tides
The preeminent dramatist of China’s rapid 21st-century growth and social transformation, Jia Zhangke has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet with his marvelous Caught by the Tides.
Assembled from footage shot over a span of 23 years—a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences—Caught by the Tides is a free-flowing work of unspoken longing, carried along more by music than dialogue as it looms around the edges of a poignant love story.
The film mostly adheres to the perspective of Qiaoqiao (Jia’s immortal muse Zhao Tao) as she wanders an increasingly unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (Li Zhubin), who left their home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects.
- Director: Jia Zhangke
- Dates: May 16-18, 2025
- Duration: 111 minutes
- IMDB: imdb.com/title/tt27958252
Selected for the Main Competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Blue Sun Palace
Within the confines of a massage parlor in Flushing, Queens, Amy and Didi navigate romance, happiness, and the obligations of family thousands of miles from home. Despite the physical and emotional toll their work extracts, the women who live at the parlor have fortified an impenetrable sisterhood.
When tragedy strikes on Lunar New Year, Amy is forced to consider her own destiny for the first time ever. Despite finding solace in the company of Cheung, Amy must leave the city and prioritize her own spirit in order to survive.
- Director: Constance Tsang
- Dates: May 2, 3, 20, 2025
- Duration: 117 minutes
- IMDB: imdb.com/title/tt32119297
Producer Sally Sujin Oh will be in person for Q&As on May 2 & 3.
Co-presented by Roxie Theater, San Francisco.