Sales agent and producer Distribution Workshop has picked up international sales duties on “The Chinese Pilot,” an action drama that is expected to be one of the biggest Chinese films of this year. Sales begin this week on the margins of the Cannes Film Festival.
 
The film employs Hong Kong’s Andrew Lau (“The Flock,” “Infernal Affairs”) as director, and Zhang Hanyu (“Operation Mekong,” ”The Taking of Tiger Mountain”) as civilian pilot Captain Liu Chuanjian.
 
The film is a cinematic portrayal of one of the most miraculous emergency landings in contemporary Chinese aviation history. The incident happened this time last year, after the windshield of a Sichuan Airlines A319 plane shattered in flight at 32,000 feet above the Tibetan Plateau. The plane lost much of its automated controls and caused the cabin to depressurize.