iQIYI & Chen Kaige Partner for Online Drama The Eight

iQIYI is working with Chinese film director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the Assassin) on the online drama The Eight.

The project marks Chen’s first foray into the online drama arena. Chen will serve as executive producer, responsible for the script and involved in every aspect of the series, from casting to editing to cinematography.

The Eight is set in both Paris and China amid the turmoil of the early Republican era. It tells the story of a young Chinese man who has grown up at the intersection of Chinese and Western culture and gets drawn into the criminal underworld while fighting to save China’s independence against a variety of hostile forces.

“The rise of premium internet dramas has opened up a huge space for creative innovation,” said Chen. “With this freedom, directors can now approach storytelling from many different dimensions and create deeper, more richly drawn characters.”