Japan Premiere

Sojourn in Shangri-la amusingly shows the behind-the-scenes indignity of a glamorous fashion shoot on a beach gone awry as a put-upon art assistant named Cal is tasked with rescuing an installation swallowed by the sea. With models waiting on instructions, finance guys on the phone, and a director on the warpath, Cal faces off against on-set hierarchies, petty technicians, and time itself as she tries to track down the structure. Her tireless efforts will see her situation become tinged by the supernatural, a sense richly evoked by director LIN Yihan’s choice to shoot in luminous black and white, the look of which lends proceedings an otherworldly atmosphere as the film segues from the mundane to the surreal. [Jason MAHER]