Cheng Er
Award-Winning Filmmaker
Best Editing
Director and Editor, Hidden Blade
Jury Citation
The editing of Hidden Blade breaks up the chronology of events, reversing, joining and collaging the plot into a new narrative structure. Its logic is tight and its control precise, heightening the film's suspense and drawing the audience in. Within the nonlinear narrative it plants foreshadowing with metaphorical meaning, engaging the audience's participation.
Hidden Blade: Synopsis
In the 1940s, Shanghai is in its "Orphan Island" period. Rival forces are intricately entangled; their members go by surname only, and from different positions they shape the course of history. The No. 76 secret service, based in the foreign concession, is a sinister agency that takes orders from the Wang Jingwei puppet government and serves Japanese imperialism. Mr. He (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), director of No. 76, is a smooth talker who keeps up an appearance of calm as he moves between Watanabe (Hiroyuki Mori), head of the Japanese special service, and the opportunist Minister Tang (Da Peng), yet his smile seems to hide something deeper. Agents Mr. Wang (Wang Chuanjun) and Mr. Ye (Wang Yibo) are friends who serve political power, until a few Japanese corpses turn their fates. Unable to bear the pressure of revolution and the threat of death, Mr. Zhang (Huang Lei), a former member of the underground Party, suddenly defects, and his betrayal brings the intrigue to a head.