SHANGHAI TRANCE

Director: David Verbeek

Producers: Motel Films, Les Petites Lumières,

HD, color

Shot 2006 in Shanghai, China

Delivery: spring 2008

An intimate portrait at a city and three relationships in 2006.

“Shanghai Trance ” is a cinematic portrait of Shanghai 2006 through three relationships about people between the age of 20 and 30, hereby shaping the face of a generation: Jenny and Calvin live by night in the club where Calvin is a DJ, and Jenny lives off silly hostessing jobs – all this to the horror of her parents. Zhang Jie still lives with her parents because her office job does not enable her to live on her own but she goes out with older men who lavish money and gifts on her; and Xu Yu , the only male protagonist, also lives with his parents who seem to decide just about everything about his life, except the girl he is interested in.

Throughout the film as a whole, the main theme is about how people of this generation relate to each other. What do they expect from each other and themselves? Can they reach each other? And if they can, can they trust each other? An intimate series of observations from a generation that has been brought up in a city that has changed faster than they could grow up.