Jiang Wen's latest film The Sun Also Rises has been taken off the final lineup of the 60th Festival de Cannes. It is said that some parts of the film were mangled during postproduction. The production team is currently making up for the backup list tickets.
Jiang has already finished the first edition of the copy and handed it over to the jury of Cannes but the result is still to be determined. Failure to enter the Cannes Film Festival will likely also delay the public screening, as it would first premiere at some later film festival, such as Venice.
The movie which took one year to make and cost US$10 million is Jiang's third directorial production. The main storyline appears to be that of Old Tang and his wife who get relocated to the countryside for re-education during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Tang finds out that his wife is having an affair with a younger man.
Japanese film music master Joe Hisaishi has also been invited to compose incidental music for the movie.
The movie was widely considered a certainty to compete for the Golden Palm Award of Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 16 to 27. The director earlier announced that the film's editing would be completed a month ahead of schedule.
(China Daily May 10, 2007)