"The Golden Era" made its world premiere on September 6, 2014 at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, where it was shown out-of-competition and selected as the festival's closing film. Hui's previous full-length directorial feature, "A Simple Life", also premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, where it competed for the Golden Lion. Shortly after its world premiere, "The Golden Era" made its North American premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, placed under the Masters category and distributed by China Lion Film Distribution Inc. The film continued to appear in other festivals, including the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival while making its first public release on October 1, 2014 in China.