Hou Tianlai

Continuing the recent trend of moody neo-noirs from mainland China, this tenebrous psychological thriller from director Wei Shujun follows a small-town detective into the mouth of madness. Stunningly shot on Super 16, Only the River Flows is a pungently atmospheric serial-killer procedural.

A young boy goes missing during a snowstorm, launching his parents and the local authorities into a frenzied, race-against-time search operation.