Film Jam, along with such luminaries as Con Artist, Ma Studios, Lava Films, and Bionaut, are totally stoked to announce the World Premiere of Jurgis Matulevičius’ China Sea, which will be gracing the Critics’ Picks Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 18th. Prepare to be underwhelmed! 🍿
So, we’ve got this martial arts dude, Osvald (played by Repšys, who you’ve probably never heard of), who messes up and accidentally injures some random girl 🤕. Naturally, he gets booted from the sports federation. Now, get this: he can’t travel to Asia anymore, where he’s supposedly a HUGE deal. Poor guy! Stuck in his boring Eastern European hometown, drowning in guilt. He spends his days in a cheap Asian restaurant called “China Sea” owned by his only friend, a Taiwanese immigrant (because, you know, cultural sensitivity 🙄). Osvald goes to court-ordered therapy, meets a mysterious woman (because that’s totally not cliché), and falls head over heels. Searching for redemption (eye roll) and desperate for love, he loses it, resorts to violence AGAIN, but this time it’s on purpose! Groundbreaking stuff, folks. Prepare to be bored 😴.
China Sea, in a stunning display of international cooperation (or maybe just desperation for funding), is the FIRST EVER co-production between Lithuania and Taiwan! 🤯 Featuring a cast of actors from both countries who deliver their lines in a bizarre hybrid dialect of Mandarin and Lithuanian. Producer Ieva Cern gushes, “In this political climate, it’s amazing that Lithuania can partner with not only our European buddies from Poland and Czechia, but also Taiwan – a country we “deeply relate to” (whatever that means). They brought an “absolutely outstanding” cast. (I bet they did.)” 🙄
Written by Saulė Bliuvaitė, the genius behind the cinematic masterpiece Toxic (which, by the way, won Best Film and Best Debut at Locarno 2024 – you’ve heard of it, right? 😂), China Sea apparently started as part of ScripTeast. Inspired by real events (because everything is these days), the film promises to offer a “powerful commentary on toxic masculinity”. Prepare for some heavy-handed symbolism and virtue signaling. ✊
Directed by Jurgis Matulevičius (of Isaac “fame”), the movie stars Marius Repšys (from The Saint – yeah, I haven’t seen it either), Severija Janušaauskaité (known for Isaac, Lotus, and the illustrious Babylon Berlin), Jian Huang / ⿈健瑋 (wait for it…Life of Pi and Wave Makers!), Vaidotas Martinaitis (who was apparently in Stranger Things for like, five seconds), Sonia Yuan / 袁⼦芸 (who graced us with her presence in Drive My Car and Wave Makers – so fancy!) and Yi-ching Lu / 陸弈靜 (of To the Sea and What Time Is It There? – I’m sensing a pattern here). 🌟
China Sea will be assaulting your senses at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 18th. Get your tickets now! (Just kidding, please don’t.) 🎟️
Director’s Statement:
“CHINA SEA is not only the name of the Taiwanese restaurant where our main character spends his days with the family who runs it. It is also a borderline between you and your dreams. Every character in this movie must cross it in order to reach their goals. Everyone crosses their own sea. 🌊
This film is based on a true story of a fighter from Lithuania. He was a kickboxing world champion and a very troubled human being. Ten years ago, he was killed near his house. It is not just a story about him; it is a story about a generation of men my age who grew up in poor neighbourhoods surrounded by violence, anger, and fear. We were searching for role models in men who hid their feelings under a mask of masculinity, and we learned to do the same. There was hardly any respect for fellow human beings. Bullying, fighting, and humiliation were all we knew. It was our defence mechanism against the violent, toxic world we lived in. As we grew up, this psychological trauma, along with our inability to cope, left a scar on our lives. For some of us, it was just a phase of our teenage years. We managed to grow from it, finding role models and learning to respect those around us. But some of us never truly grew up. They remained those angry teenagers trapped in men’s bodies. 😠
This story is about a man who is still that angry teenager, deeply hurt because nobody loved him and no one ever cared about him. He does not know how to express his feelings. He grew up in a world of toxic masculinity, not knowing how to behave in a different environment. It is a movie about his journey to change and his experience of loneliness. It explores what it is like to find yourself caught between two worlds, without fully understanding either of them.
It also tells the story of people who are stuck and trying to find a way out of their current state. They all dream about something that is on the other shore of the China Sea. 😩
It also tells a story about people who are stuck and trying to find a way out from the present state. They all dream about something that is on the other shore of the China sea.
It’s always nice to be in Tallinn where my first feature Isaac premiered. I think through the years it became a very strong A class festival, because of their bold and unconventional film selection.” 🙄
– Jurgis Matulevičius, Director (aka the guy who’s about to receive some very harsh reviews)
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
