Slamdance Alzheimer’s Drama Heads to Busan Market

Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has taken on worldwide sales for “Banr,” Erica Xia-Hou’s Canadian-Chinese drama about a 40-year marriage tested by Alzheimer’s disease.

After its world premiere in the Narrative Features lineup at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival, the film heads to the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, where Cappu is presenting it to buyers.

Sui Li and Baoqing Li star as the couple, with Xia-Hou as their daughter opposite a non-professional cast. As the wife’s memory fades, the film watches love, loneliness and strain settle into the family’s daily routines. Roughly two-thirds of it was shot observationally, documentary-style.

“If memory disappears, does love disappear with it?” Xia-Hou said. “Memory can disappear, a person can disappear, and even a life together can become unrecognizable – but love can remain after the memory that once contained it is gone.”

Xia-Hou wrote, directed and produced the film. It reunites her with Cappu after “Fox Hunt,” which she co-wrote with director Leo Zhang and starred in opposite Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Cappu, which holds exclusive international rights to “Fox Hunt,” has already sold it into several territories. Xia-Hou’s credits also include 2017 Jackie Chan actioner “Bleeding Steel,” which she co-wrote and acted in.

Janice Woo of Cappu Films said: “The film looks closely at the everyday choices a family makes when someone they love begins to lose their memory. We look forward to introducing it to buyers in Busan and helping it reach audiences around the world.”

Cappu’s Busan lineup also features “Fox Hunt”; “Ephemera,” Shan Jiang’s Tribeca title; WWII spy series “Operation Doolittle,” told across nine episodes; martial arts film “Lion Fist”; Joy Hopwood’s dramedy “Her Last Laugh,” from Australia; Stas Mareev’s “Overstake,” a sci-fi action thriller; and “Zombie Plane,” an action comedy toplined by Vanilla Ice, Sophie Monk and Chuck Norris.