Jia Zhangke’s CAUGHT BY THE TIDES Gets Criterion Channel Streaming Premiere Date
Courtesy Janus Films/Sideshow
Janus Films and Sideshow’s acclaimed drama CAUGHT BY THE TIDES is set to make its SVOD debut next month, arriving on the Criterion Channel August 5th, 2025, at 8p ET. The film world premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and launched in US theaters on May 9th, 2025. As we previously reported, it will be also be available to rent and purchase on VOD and digital platforms the same day.
Caught by the Tides is directed by Jia Zhangke, and written by Wan Jianhuan and Zhangke, based on footage across 22 years, some from Jia's previous films, in an impressionistic non-linear blend of fiction and non-fiction. It stars Zhao Tao, Li Zhubin, and Pan Jianlin.
In this visionary chronicle of China’s turbulent new century, acclaimed director Jia Zhangke embarks on a kaleidoscopic odyssey across time and space, incorporating footage captured for his previous films into an entirely original, captivating epic.
Drawing on a twenty-three-year collaboration between Jia and actors Zhao Tao and Li Zhubin, Caught by the Tides casts them as a pair of estranged lovers, tracking these characters across an increasingly alien China as they age in real time, from the dawn of the millennium to the COVID-19 era. Observing the future-shock developments transforming his country, Jia constructs a sensorially immersive, emotionally profound portrait of both a world in flux and two people navigating its uncertain currents.
We’ve added the release date to our Streaming calendar. Pre-order from Amazon below, and check out the film’s official trailer, plus an excerpt from the Criterion Channel’s Meet the Filmmakers interview.
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On digital and the Criterion Channel early next month…