????CHINESE director Jia Zhangke’s latest film “Mountains May Depart” was screened Wednesday in Cannes to compete for the Palme d’Or at the ongoing 68th Cannes Film Festival. The acclaimed Chinese director won the best screenplay honor at Cannes in 2013 for “A Touch of Sin.” ????“Mountains May Depart” is set in 1999 in China. 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 named Duole. The movie moves from China to Australia, covering 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 wanted to make a film about affection. I have some new understandings of affection, so I want to show them. In addition, society is also changing how people express affection,” said Jia, explaining why he wanted to make “Mountain.” ????In this movie, there are three time frames — 1999, 2014 and 2025. The goal, according to him, is to show how affection changes over time. ????When asked if Chinese movies are trending toward being filmed in English, Jia said, “a man who lost his mother tongue, can he really return to his hometown? That’s one of the questions this movie poses.” ????“In this rapidly changing world, some things change while some things need to be preserved and protected, such as language,” he said. ????His award-winning “A Touch of Sin” was blocked from public release in China in 2013. “Hopefully, this time, the film will be able to be seen in China without any … complications,” Zhangke told THR in Cannes. “It’s a very complicated issue, but, in 2013 the government thought the violence depicted in ‘Touch of Sin’ would inspire copycats, with people imitating this violent anti-government, anti-social behavior.” ????He added, “I kept trying to persuade them that there was no way a film could create chaos and violence in society. One shouldn’t blame the director.” ????There’s no violence in “Mountains” and no overt criticism of the government, but the film, whose story spans a quarter century from 1999 to a projected future in 2025, is highly critical of China’s version of turbo-capitalism and the damage it has done to society. ????“(Chinese society) is very money-driven right now. A lot of people think money can solve everything,” said Jia. “As a society, we are starting to reflect on this, on the damage it is causing to our personal and emotional relationships.” ????This is the fourth time that a Jia Zhangke movie is competing for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The others were “Unknown Pleasures” in 2002, “24 City” in 2008 and “A Touch of Sin” in 2013. Jia served as a jury member in 2014. ????Nineteen films were selected to compete for the Palme d’Or. The 68th Festival de Cannes runs from May 13 to 24.(SD-Agencies) | 