New director Xu Lei's directorial debut "Summer Detective," is a Chinese rural comedy that infuses dark humor with suspense and adventure. Set in the North China Plains, it tells the story of two men on the hunt for a runaway driver responsible for a traffic accident. The reflection of human nature and its brilliance in the film is so moving and powerful that it penetrates all other material and spiritual embellishments, presenting the characters to us in their raw humanity.

Another new director Bai Xue's directorial debut "The Crossing" is quite a masterful surprise and is different from traditional youth films focusing on campus and love. It tells the story of a young girl, brilliantly portrayed by Huang Yao, who is drawn into the murky world of smuggling goods across the border between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. With interesting cultural and social clashes, "The Crossing" is a deep, realistic and special breakthrough, which records the important social changes in this era.

Chinese art-house auteur Lou Ye's "The Shadow Play" is a crime drama thriller that tells how a naive rookie cop pursues truth in a grotesquely complicated case as he investigates a wealthy real estate family and finds himself caught in a web of love. The film attempts to create a sense of danger by editing the story into bits and pieces, then jumping back and forth in time and place, from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The film is a strong social critique, as is always with Lou's films, observing the complexities of humanity and the crux of its fall in the current epoch.

Directed by Diao Yinan, "The Wild Goose Lake" is a story about a loner thief's self-redemption while making his getaway. Shot in his trademark noir-ish flair, the film blends a dark quality with subtle absurdism. In his movie, Diao creates a playful work of art in contemporary Chinese genre filmmaking as its leading characters delve deeper into the murky underbelly of contemporary Chinese society.

Veteran Hong Kong comedian and filmmaker Stephen Chow proved his flair for tragicomedy with his new film "The New King of Comedy". The movie is an ode to extras in the film industry as well as dreamers who hold on to their ideals even after encountering hardships and cruelty. It's both tender and harsh, and all its hilarious plots and punchlines reflect tragic reality. The film marks another artistic peak for the comedian master Chow, however the only problem is that he doesn't star in the film, but has every actor mimicking his unique style.

Adapted from the novel "Young and Beautiful" by Jiu Yuexi, "Better Days"is directed by Derek Tsang and tells the story of two high school students whose fates were changed by an accident as the national college entrance exam approaches. The film is a stunning piece of work that realistically and sharply portrays the injury and hurt caused by school bullying and the oppressive atmosphere surrounding the big exam. Pop idol Jackson Yee made a breakthrough in this film by not taking on a heartthrob role, but rather, by playing a troubled young hooligan in love, with which he was widely applauded for.

The epic Chinese family saga "So Long, My Son" by Wang Xiaoshuai, stars Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei as a couple who lose their only child. It tells a story of their 30-year-long struggle that is enduring, turbulent, harrowing, and marked with suffering and relief, showing their agonizing journey through the different eras. It is a poignant masterpiece with the two leading actors delivering their best performances yet, and which some have said were hauntingly brilliant. Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei both won the best actor and best actress awards at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and also received the same accolades at the Golden Roosters Awards in China.

"My People, My Country," directed by Chen Kaige and six other prominent Chinese directors - Xu Zheng, Ning Hao, Guan Hu, Zhang Yibai, Xue Xiaolu and Wen Muye–is one in a series of films and TV dramas to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The anthology combines seven short films focusing on ordinary Chinese individuals who grew up in the PRC and experienced seven significant historic moments from the country's founding ceremony in 1949 to the 2018 Beijing Olympics. The film shows what seven of China's best directors can achieve (though their styles may vary) and successfully triggered a wave of nostalgia and patriotism, as well as huge box office returns. The current popularity of Chinese blockbusters, often labelled "mainstream films", also suggest that this genre has achieved a new level of sophistication from its previous form as dull and didactic productions on Chinese revolutionary history.

By the end of the year, the animated feature "Ne Zha" had become the highest grossing Chinese film in 2019, the largest grossing animation in history and the second biggest grossing Chinese film of all time. The miracle went beyond the imagination of its creator and animated feature director Jiao Zi, who had only made a few short animations before this film. The director adapted the story in his own way and departed from the traditional portrayals in previous Ne Zha legends. Touching on subjects such as the parent-child relationship, family love, loneliness and misunderstanding, Jiao Zi created a story that resonated with a modern audience. His adaptation won over cinema goers and coupled with sleek and breathtaking animation CGI, the film was a runaway success. "Ne Zha" marks a milestone for Chinese animation and the Chinese film industry in their mission to attain world-class standards.

"The Wandering Earth" became the movie to mark the beginning of a new era of Chinese sci-fi blockbusters after the highly anticipated "Three-Body Problem" film project was shelved. The pioneering and hugely successful sci-fi movie, "The Wandering Earth", based on a story by the award-winning Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin, is a film that was proudly made-in-China. With the scale of its production, it has become the third highest grossing Chinese film of all time and the highest grossing Chinese science fiction film of all time. "The Wandering Earth" stands out also because the producers and filmmakers behind it tried their best to create a nuanced storyline and inject many details to make it convincing. Most importantly, the film was able to boost China's pride by perfectly injecting a sense of homeland nostalgia, the Chinese people's spirit, emotion and philosophy, as well as their patriotism and sacrifice.