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Introduction

China, US, France, Singapore / 2024 / 98 min
Director：QIU Yang

40-year-old housewife Cai lost her aim of life and stands on the edge of a mental breakdown. In the beginning of the film, she inadvertently injures an elderly woman and is asked for compensation by the woman's family after she is hospitalized. From this event we start to see her circumstances - Cai is in the middle of divorcing her husband, and has a deep rift with her rebellious daughter. Her mother-in-law who cohabits with her, seems to suffer from dementia and her long estranged father is on his deathbed. She is floundering from the weight of the burden and depression. The film effectively tells Cai’s midlife crisis situation and the dysfunction of a middle class Chinese family in a suffocating 4:3 framing and beautifully melancholy imagery by cinematographer Constanze Schmitt. The star Yu Aier’s performance in her debut film is also fantastic. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival Short film programme Palme d’Or, Qiu Yang’s debut feature follows critical acclaim on a series of short films, including “A Gentle Night” (2017), which won the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival Encounters section.

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