Most criminal films center on exposing the truth and bringing evil to justice, but the upcoming film Bloody Daisy turns the lens on the personal lives of two police officers, who endured huge pressure for 19 years while hunting a serial killer.
The directorial debut of 1990s-born Xu Xiangyun, the film — which stars Song Ningfeng and Wang Longzheng — will open to Chinese mainland theaters on Nov 22.
At the Beijing premiere held in a downtown theater, Xu shared some behind-the-scenes stories alongside the actors.
Before his maiden effort as director, Xu worked as a scriptwriter for several hit crime webseries, such as Medical Examiner Dr. Qin and Ten Deadly Sins.
He interviewed many police officers and learned of pressures caused by cases that hadn't been solved.
Xu said he was surprised to find up to 50 percent of police officers are divorced as they were too involved in their investigations.
"To some extent, they are also 'victims' who have been tortured by the cases for years," Xu said.
The film is mainly inspired by the shocking case of the serial killer Gao Chengyong, dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper", who raped and killed 11 female victims, including an 8-year-old girl, between 1988 and 2002 in Gansu province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
