Floating Melon

''Floating Melon'' (Original ; Spanish title ''Sandía amarga'') is a 2015 Spanish and Chinese co-production drama film written and directed by Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi. It is a low budget independent short movie produced by ''Almost Red Productions'' (China) in association with ''Arkadín Ediciones'' (Spain). It was shot in Chengdu, using the local dialect of the region, the Sichuanese Mandarin.

The film has a strong film noir influences and represents the second part of the work ''Invisible Chengdu'', a trilogy that focuses on characters that usually are kept underground and discriminated in the Chinese society and often not well represented in the silver screen. The first part is the film ''Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal'' (2013) and the last part Sunken Plum (to be released in 2017).

''Floating Melon'' is performed by non professional actors and it includes themes very delicate, often censured in China, specially the representation of the homosexuality in young people, a community that need to protect themselves due to the lack of protective laws in the country. The story is partially based in true events, but the atmosphere is close to the Film Noir genre, to reflect the only situation where queer people can express themselves, community that needs to live in the shadows of the night in the Chinese society. It tells the story of ''Xiao Cheng'', a young Chinese guy that ask for help to a friend to resolve a big trouble, the guy with whom he spend the afternoon is dead on his bed from the effect of a drug, not something the Chinese authorities look kindly on.

The film premiered in Spain at the 53rd ''FICXIXON, Gijón International Film Festival'' in November 2015 and in China at the Art Gallery ''Shujingtang Alley Art Space'' in Chengdu (Sichuan) in June 2016. It received an Audience Award at the 15th ''Aviles Acción Film Festival'' (Spain) and the Audience Choice Award and Best Cinematography Award (Guo Yong) at the III ''Asturian Film Festival of Proaza'' 2016 (Spain). In the first 12 months after the release it has been presented in over 40 international film festivals in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. Provided by Wikipedia