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Berlinale Adds Xu Zao’s ‘Light Pillar’ to Perspectives as Cercamon Boards Global Sales

The feature debut fuses hand-drawn animation with live action for a romantic sci-fi tale.

Overview

  • The film will premiere in the Berlinale’s Perspectives strand as the 14th and final selection and will compete for the program’s best first feature award.
  • Festival organizers labeled the selection an eleventh-hour addition to the first-features section.
  • Dubai-based sales outfit Cercamon acquired worldwide rights ahead of the premiere to launch international sales.
  • Set in a future of routine space travel, the story follows a solitary janitor at a deteriorating film studio who becomes involved in a virtual relationship.
  • Da Peng stars and serves as executive producer, with Xu Zao writing and storyboarding the film after winning DOK Leipzig’s 2023 Golden Dove for an animated short.