BUS 44
Written & Directed by DAYYAN ENG
Starring GONG BEIBI, WU CHAO, LI YIXIANG
SUMMARY:
On the outskirts of a small town, a bus driver and her passengers encounter highway robbers. “Bus 44” carries a universal theme that travels across all boundaries and societies, trespassing the dark side and bright side of human behavior.
DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS:
I have always been interested in social psychology and wanted to do a film about how people react under certain stressful circumstances. The story attracts me not only because it has an interesting plot with a twist, but mostly because the underlying theme is even more haunting than the events that take place. I intentionally made this film with a certain ambiguity of time and place -- this story could have taken place anywhere in the world. Making films about people and human nature attracts me because I feel that people around the world have much more in common than they do differences. “Bus 44” carries a universal theme that travels across all boundaries and societies, trespassing the dark side and bright side of human behavior.
AWARDS
- Special Jury Award - 2001 Venice Film Festival
- Jury Honorable Mention - 2002 Sundance Film Festival
- Directors' Fortnight - 2002 Cannes Film Festival
- Grand Jury Award - 2002 Florida Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2003 New York Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2001 Pusan International Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2002 Hong Kong International Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2001 Seattle International Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2002 Edinburgh International Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2002 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
- Official Selection - 2001 Gijon International Film Festival
POSTER
REVIEWS & QUOTES
- Chris Lee, producer and former president of Columbia/Tristar Pictures:
- “Great performances and nicely rendered tension, composition, and editing...”
- Wong Kar-Wai, filmmaker:
- “A well-directed, well-paced film... Promising director with a talent for story-telling...”
- Marie-Pierre Macia, artistic director of Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight:
- “Short-filmmaking at its best... One of the best short films I've seen.”
- Janet Yang, producer:
- “... A very moving film that is also a searing social commentary.”
- Ju Kyung-Jung, filmmaker:
- “... Korean directors are now noticing and paying more attention to young Chinese directors such as Dayyan Eng... ”
- Jo Lusby, City Weekend Magazine:
- “Bus 44 is one of those rare films that have all the ingredients of a truly great movie... The story is complete, and the self-restraint obviously needed to not spin this out into a longer piece is admirable. It is well paced, intriguing, and defies any viewer to not react to the underlying message of the movie.”
- ZeD-TV, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC):
- “One of the most powerful films ever to air on ZeD.”
- Man Yan, Beijing Evening News:
- “A deep and moving tale about the ills of society.”
- New Times Los Angeles:
- “... Best of the selection... A model of economic storytelling.”