Take Off
⻜⾏家

Spanning from the 1970s to the present, Take Off follows Li Mingqi, an ordinary worker in Northeast China who inherits his father’s unfinished dream of flying. Obsessed with the sky, Li builds a homemade flying machine, but an early experiment ends in tragedy, leaving his brother-in-law disabled and forcing him to abandon his pursuit.

As China undergoes sweeping changes during the era of reform and opening up, Li and his wife struggle to adapt, opening a dance hall in an abandoned factory museum and even using a hot air balloon to attract foreign visitors. Yet the longing to fly never leaves him. Years later, faced with the urgent need to save his critically ill nephew, Li returns to his impossible dream, taking to the sky once more.

Adapted from Shuang Xuetao’s novel The Aeronaut, the film is set against the shifting landscape of Northeast China’s industrial decline, tracing a life shaped by resilience, chance, and historical transformation. Blending humor and quiet idealism, this uplifting film uses flight as a metaphor for human aspiration—asking not only how we rise, but ultimately where, and for whom, we choose to land.

PENGFEI
Pengfei studied at the International Institute of Image and Sound (3iS) in France and began his career collaborating with Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang, co-writing Stray Dogs (2013), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. His directorial debut, Underground Fragrance (2015), won the Fedeora Award at Venice Days. Subsequent films include The Taste of Rice Flower (2017), premiered at Venice Days and Tracing Her Shadow (2020) which competed at Shanghai International Film Festival. His latest feature, Take Off (2025), premiered in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Sun Apr 26, 2026 | 11:00
Stadtkino
Red Lotus 2026

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China 2025
118 Min | Color | Chinese with English subtitles

Directed by Pengfei

Take Off © Rediance