This film was released on Friday 12th June 2015 and is no longer screening. 

★★★★ The Irish Times

This film closes on Thursday, June 18th. 

EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI

Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is the third feature film from Chinese director Diao Yinan. Set in 1999, body parts discovered scattered miles apart across coal depots in northern China are the starting point for this intricately plotted crime thriller. After a violent and unresolved investigation, the story shifts five years on, to where detective Zhang Zili, now gone from the police force and drinking heavily, endures a harsh Chinese winter.A chance encounter with a former colleague plunges him into a desperate attempt to unravel the truth of the notorious murders.

Beautifully photographed neon backdrops and classic noir themes, including a mysterious and seductive femme fatale, imbue this bleak and wryly humorous portrait of repressed truths and quiet desperations in contemporary China. (Notes by Ger Sweeney)

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