To clearly depict a story and to make the audience resonate with it in under 40 minutes is a very difficult task. It requires the story to be presented in the most crisp and straightforward manner while still keeping in touch with its essence. Here is a list of 10 Chinese short films you need to give some time to as soon as possible.
1. Step Into The River
Two young girls, Lu and Wei, live in a village along the banks of a river. The two girls would often go to the bank of this river to ply with their fathers’. Due to China’s one-child policy, many families had drowned their children in the rivers all across China, resulting in a unique connection between Lu and Wei and the river.
2. I Don’t Feel At Home Anywhere
A Chinese art student makes a trip to Beijing to reunite with her family after living abroad for almost 10 years. During her visit, her family was exposed to how far off she had gone from her roots and how different she became due to the exposure she faced.
3. A Gentle Night
An anxious and deeply worried and distraught mother goes on a rampage all over a nameless Chinese city to find her missing daughter. Even after she testified to the police, the mother refused to sit and wait quietly, and all through the night, she searched for her beloved daughter.
4. The Chef
Set in the future, where all labour work was done not by humans but by humanoids. During this time, Pu, a Chinese chef, has been ordered to teach William, a humanoid, how to cook Chinese food and how to do it the “Pu” way .
5. Paper House
This is the story of a family that begins to crumble after the head of the family meets his demise. “Paper House” refers to the Chinese tradition of setting ablaze paper offerings for the deceased.
6. Floss
Two young men living in Beijing have a beautiful and understanding relationship. But their relationship becomes a little imbalanced when one of them develops a very uncommon and unusual fetish that he feels a little ashamed of.
7. Heading South
Chasuna is a young Mongolian girl. At the age of 8, she travelled alone from her home to visit her father, who had settled down in a big city in China. But on her father’s birthday, she discovers that he had remarried a woman he met there. Chasuna now had to learn to open up to her and welcome her as part of the family.
8. Jiejie
An autobiography showcasing the coming-of-age story between two sisters. As said by Fiona Roan (also known as Feng-i), she believed for the longest time that she was ashamed of her younger sister, who did not quite fit into the immigrant world, but later realised that she was actually ashamed of being an immigrant herself. Through her work, Feng-i tries to seek redemption for her past mistakes.
9. She Runs
Yu is a student in a small city junior high. She is a part of the school aerobics dance team. But when she decides to quit the team, she is faced with tremendous pressures to continue while she nonetheless moves forward with her desperate attempts to follow through on her decision.
10. Find You In The Crowd
Chen Jingnian and Shen Lusheng have known each other since their childhood. After they made it into university, Chen Jingnian passionately chased Shen Lusheng. Slowly, Chen Jingnian’s love for Shen Lusheng starts to become more and more prominent. Lusheng, however, can’t stand Chen Jingnian’s love and keeps his innermost feelings locked away.
