Synopsis

An unmistakably bold new voice in Chinese independent cinema Liu Jian takes modern-day China's social concerns and animates them with striking, expressive visuals. Set during 2008 financial crisis, Piercing I concerns the disaffected and unemployed youths who, even with a university degrees, are unable to find meaningful employment. Zhang Xiaojun is even wrongfully arrested for a theft in a supermarket. Corruption, drugs, and discrimination are all laid bare in this harsh yet impressively novel work which culminates in a brilliantly unexpected finale. (IFF Hong Kong)

Liu Jian

Liu Jian studied Chinese landscape painting and graduated from the Nanjing University of the Arts in 1993. Over the past two decades, his work has drawn on a range of media and aesthetic approaches and has been presented at major exhibitions both in China and abroad. In 1995, he began making works of animation and in 2007 he independently established the Le-joy Animation Studio. His first feature-length animation work, Piercing I, premiered at Holland Animation Film Festival and received numerous prestigious awards at film festivals across Asia and Europe.