Fala Chen, Colin Farrell, and Edward Berger Attend Canadian Premiere of Ballad of a Small Player 《小人物之歌》 at TIFF 2025
Directed by Edward Berger
WRitten by Rowan Joffe
Producers: Mike Goodridge, Edward Berger, Matthew James Wilkinson
Composer: Volker Bertelmann
Starring: Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip
Releasing in select cinemas in October and globally on Netflix on October 29, 2025
Edward Berger, Colin Farrell, Fala Chen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025
Award-winning Director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave) brings his latest feature, Ballad of a Small Player, to TIFF on September 9th! Starring the phenomenal Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, and Deanie Yip, the film follows an obsessive gambler in the dazzling world of modern-day Macau.
Synopsis
Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) is laying low in Macau – spending his days and nights on the casino floors, drinking heavily and gambling what little money he has left. Struggling to keep up with his fast-rising debts, he is offered a lifeline by the mysterious Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino employee with secrets of her own.
However, in hot pursuit is Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) – a private investigator ready to confront Doyle with what he is running from. As Doyle tries to climb to salvation, the confines of reality start to close in.
Ballad of a Small Player is directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet On The Western Front, Conclave) and stars Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings and Tilda Swinton.
Ballad of a Small Player Official Teaser
Director’s Statement
I went to a Bruce Nauman exhibition in Hong Kong. He said that he was trying to make art that was “like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat.”
That’s what Macau felt like to me. It hits you with a baseball bat square in the face.
“The lights. The colours. The fountains and the casinos. The heat. The thunder and the rain. The constant loud music. The luxury. The emptiness. A sense of tradition and culture overrun by modernity. It’s pure intoxication. A neon-lit diamond, its allure suspended between seduction and the abyss. ”
That’s what the movie had to feel like. An explosion of senses. Pop and opera, drama and absurdity, sincerity and humour, all at the same time.
And in the midst of all this madness, I fell in love with Lord Doyle, this forlorn and fragile soul on the run from his past.
I fell in love with a man at war with himself, an imposter looking for redemption in the worst possible place - only to find his inner void staring back at him in the mirror.
I fell in love with this man driven by hunger and greed, spiritually empty in a spiritually empty world, desperately trying to find a small haven of peace.
And working through all these thoughts and impressions I realised I made a movie about us. I made a movie about my view of our times, where capitalism has spun out of control and society has lost its direction.
But you know what? I hope my hero finds peace in the end. As I think maybe, just maybe, that could give us some comfort.
More from Fête Chiniose
Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, and director Edward Berger attended the Canadian premiere of Ballad of a Small Player 《小人物之歌》 at TIFF 2025. Set in the neon-lit world of Macau’s casinos, the film follows Lord Doyle (Farrell), a washed-up gambler offered a second chance by the enigmatic Dao Ming (Chen), while pursued by a relentless investigator (Tilda Swinton). Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), the film also stars Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings.