Lei Peng

Huabian (Jiang Yuchen) is a young woman who moves to Beijing after completing her studies in search of all the excitement of city life. She swaps her disconsolate guitar-carrying hometown boyfriend for the art and culture of the city; only to find that things aren’t so easy there, certainly not what she expected given her education and aspirations.

This film inspired by Peng Lei's own experience sees the multi-talented creator returning to his punk rock roots and chronicling the rock'n'roll journey of Beijing's youth. It is the first film revealing the native pop culture scene in China, filling in a gap in Chinese filmmaking. The cast was sourced almost entirely from the Beijing music scene. The wandering storyline focuses more on creating a certain mood than it does on climaxes and denouements. The director is a pioneer of Chinese pop culture with a practice encompassing music, film and art, who became iconic by his unique aesthetic style. He is best known as the front-man of Beijing's most famous band New Pants.

The film follows the dating adventures of two young women. One is trying to find the right women and the other is trying to find the right man, both with little success. Then one evening at a karaoke bar the two meet.

Artist 1994 focuses on art students in the early 1990s, a time of liberalization and radical cultural change in the country.