Trailer
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ChaO
Wed
22
Wed 22 Oct 6:30 PM
Palace Nova Eastend: Cinema 8
General Admission
Unclassified 15+
90 MinsIn ChaO, humans and merfolk share the shifting canals, towering shipyards, and neon-wrapped skyline of a near-future Shanghai.
Stephan, a mild-mannered office drone at a shipbuilding company, leads a quiet life until Chao, a mermaid princess, disrupts his world with a sudden marriage proposal. His ordered existence unravels as her impulsive energy turns routines into slapstick calamities – bureaucrats flip out, diplomacy spirals, and public spectacle engulfs the city. Their mismatched coupling sparks absurd chases through water-slicked alleys, physical gags in transit corridors, and tender moments in the reflection-lit depths of the harbor. When their romance accidentally triggers an interspecies crisis, Stephan must summon resilience and compromise in a metropolis teetering between order and chaos.
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki in his feature debut and crafted by STUDIO4°C, ChaO brims with kinetic hand-drawn animation, brisk visual jokes, and a sly tenderness at its core. After premiering at Annecy 2025 and winning the Jury Award, the film stands out as a delightfully off-kilter rom-com, buoyed by meticulous design, slapstick timing and heartfelt absurdity.
Stephan, a mild-mannered office drone at a shipbuilding company, leads a quiet life until Chao, a mermaid princess, disrupts his world with a sudden marriage proposal. His ordered existence unravels as her impulsive energy turns routines into slapstick calamities – bureaucrats flip out, diplomacy spirals, and public spectacle engulfs the city. Their mismatched coupling sparks absurd chases through water-slicked alleys, physical gags in transit corridors, and tender moments in the reflection-lit depths of the harbor. When their romance accidentally triggers an interspecies crisis, Stephan must summon resilience and compromise in a metropolis teetering between order and chaos.
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki in his feature debut and crafted by STUDIO4°C, ChaO brims with kinetic hand-drawn animation, brisk visual jokes, and a sly tenderness at its core. After premiering at Annecy 2025 and winning the Jury Award, the film stands out as a delightfully off-kilter rom-com, buoyed by meticulous design, slapstick timing and heartfelt absurdity.