kviff.com
News
Festival Guide
  • Tickets and Festival Pass
  • Accommodations
  • Transportation
  • Festival cinemas
  • No Barriers project
  • Kids at the festival
  • Festival Shop
Program
  • Catalogue of films
  • Accompanying programme
  • Archive of films
  • Audience award
  • KVIFF Talks
  • Film Entry
Film Industry
  • Industry accreditation
  • Film Industry at KVIFF
  • Industry Days Programme
  • KVIFF Eastern Promises
  • KVIFF Talents
Press
  • Press accreditation
  • Press Service
  • For download
  • Press releases
  • Photogallery
  • Videogallery
About the festival
  • Festival description
  • Programme sections
  • Awards
  • History
  • We support non-profits
  • Photogallery
  • Partners
  • Why We Support the Festival
  • Contacts
CZ
Sign in
Film Archive

Black Coal, Thin Ice

Horizons 2014 / Bai ri yan huo / China, Hong Kong 2014

Five years after a fatal shootout, Detective Zhang returns to an investigation that involves numerous mysteries and a highly attractive noir setting. At this year’s Berlinale this distinctive, genre-bending movie took the Golden Bear and Best Actor prizes.

Black Coal, Thin Ice Black Coal, Thin Ice

Synopsis

The investigation of a bizarre factory murder forces Detective Zhang into a shootout in a barbershop from which he escapes with his life but is unable to continue working as a cop. On the inside, however, he never stops being a detective, so it’s no surprise that five years later he decides to investigate a conspicuously similar case on his own. All clues point to a femme fatale working at a small dry cleaners, but Zhang falls for the suspicious woman, thereby threatening the investigation. Designed with a consuming noir atmosphere of lowlife movie theaters and ramshackle streets, the film presents distinctive characters in an unrelenting game of dangerous liaisons. At the same time, this intriguing genre contribution allows itself to comment on the situation in contemporary China. The director is adept at both witty condensation and at holding aloof from the fatalistic shadings of a film which mediates an exceptionally rich experience. His influences can be seen in both Alfred Hitchcock style classics and traditional Hong Kong fare.

About the film

106 min / Color, DCP

Director Diao Yinan / Screenplay Diao Yinan / Dir. of Photography Dong Jinsong / Music Wen Zi / Editor Yang Hongyu / Producer Vivian Qu, Wan Juan / Production Omnijoi Media Corporation Co., Ltd. / Coproduction Boneyard Entertainment China, China Film, Jiangsu Omnijoi Movie / Cast Liao Fan, Gwei Lun Mei, Wang Xuebing / Contact Fortissimo Films

About the director

Diao Yinan

Diao Yinan (b. 1969, Xi’an, China) graduated in literature and screenwriting from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing (1992). He has made a name for himself mainly as a screenwriter (e.g. for the films of director Zhang Yang) and author of avant-garde plays (A Fastrunner or Nowhere to Hide and Comrade Ah Q). In 2003 he tried his hand at acting, cast by Yu Likwai in the independent picture All Tomorrow’s Parties, which screened at Cannes. He debuted in direction with Uniform (Zhifu, 2003), earning praise at the festivals in Vancouver and Rotterdam. His next film, Night Train (Ye chen, 2007), was presented in Cannes’ Un certain regard section, then secured distribution in many countries. The crime drama Black Coal, Thin Ice, which took the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlinale, is the director’s third feature and he takes writing credits as well.

Contacts

Fortissimo Films
Van Diemenstraat 100, 1013 CN, Amsterdam
Netherlands
Phone: +31 206 273 215
Fax: +31 206 261 155
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Niloufar Siassi
Sales Agent

Other partners
Newsletter

First-hand brews throughout the year.
Be among the first to learn about upcoming events and other news. We only send the newsletter when we have something to say.

Follow us on the web:

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
is part of the KVIFF Group family, which covers other projects as well:

© 2025 KVIFF GROUP

Rules for Visitors / Website visitors privacy policy / GTC / Personal Data Protection / Rules for Claim / Rules and Regulations / Contacts