CHINESE director Zhang Yimou’s stylish, snowy spy thriller “Impasse” is set to debut in China on April 30, joining what will be an unusually competitive lineup in the May Day holiday.

“Impasse” was supposed to hit screens last year, but its release was pushed back to this upcoming April 30 due to the pandemic. Starring Zhang Yi (“Operation Red Sea”), Yu Hewei (“A Writer’s Odyssey”), Qin Hailu (“White Deer Plain”) and Zhu Yawen (“The Witness”), the 1930s-set story tells the tale of four Chinese agents specially trained in the Soviet Union who parachute into the puppet state of the Manchurian Regime, as Northeast China was called under Japanese rule, to carry out a secret operation — only to discover they’ve been set up in a trap.

Three other films will premiere alongside Zhang’s “Impasse” on April 30: video game adaptation “Dynasty Warriors,” TV series adaptation “Schemes in Antiques,” and the omnibus film “Hero,” which tells the stories of Chinese women during the pandemic. On May 1, two more will hit screens: Aaron Kwok-starring thriller “Home Sweet Home” and “Tiger Robbers” directed by Li Yu.

Local films are increasingly fighting to release over holiday periods, when movie-going will be a prime activity for audience members still wary of travel due to the pandemic. This has historically meant, however, that only one or two as box-office hits, as the others cannibalize each other’s viewers.

Zhang is currently directing a film on the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea with his daughter, eyeing an October release. His last movie “One Second” debuted in late November last year, grossing US$10.6 million.

(SD-Agencies)