The critical and commercial success of two recent indie movies shows the growing clout of non-mainstream cinema
In the barren mountains of Inner Mongolia, Zhang Baoming (Song Yang) searches high and low for a son who went missing while herding sheep. Meanwhile, the peace back in his remote village is broken when a big mining company arrives with explosives, excavators, and trucks—along with pollution, disease, and violence.
Wrath of Silence is director Xin Yukun’s second crime mystery. The film has so far gained 50 million RMB at the box office. It’s fairly humble compared to big-budget films, but still a minor success among a genre that Peking University scholar Li Yang calls “new independent films”—movies that eschews mainstream political opinion without actively rebelling. It is an emerging genre that’s relatively free from commercial influence, but still has market appeal.
‘Silence’ Proves Golden is a story from our issue, “Vital Signs.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Liu Jue is the co-managing editor of The World of Chinese Magazine. She has a Master of Arts in Communication from Middle Tennessee State University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Minzu University. She has been working for TWOC since 2012. She is interested in covering history, traditional culture, and Chinese language.
