LAI LIE
Genre
Drama
Running time
6 minutes
Year
2023
Language
Chinese
Subtitle
English and Arabic
Country
China
Director
Cui Binglin
Bio
Producer
Qi Ruyi
Cast
Li Ke, Huang Hai
Scriptwriter
Cui Binglin
A bicycle bounces over a rough road in winter gloom, carrying a young father, Huang, and his child to the primary school in the village. The guard Li greets them “Lai Lie” and Huang watches with pleasure as children chase each other around the yard. Twenty Years later, Huang returns, but the school is now a nursing home; Li is still there, greeting them the same way, but this, just like the world they live in, the nuance of the greeting has changed.
Other movies
MY FATHER'S SCENT
Director: Mohamed Siam
A tense, poetic odyssey unfolds over one night as a father and son confront each other, aiming to settle old scores. Confined to a single apartment, their raw, emotional confrontation quickly escalates, peeling back layers of a fraught relationship. This gripping family drama forces a poignant reflection: if granted one final night with a lost loved one, would you seek vengeance or reconciliation? With powerful performances, the film is a sensitive, intimate and profound exploration of the complex, enduring bond between father and son.
GIRL
Director: Shu Qi
Superstar Shu Qi, icon of Asian cinema and muse of Hou Hsiao-hsien, makes her directorial debut with this self-penned, deeply personal coming-of-age drama. In a cramped home ruled by abuse, young teenager Lin Xiaoli keeps her head down, caring for her little sister while her father’s drunken rages cascade into her mother’s cruelty. Everything shifts when she befriends Li Lili, a rebellious classmate who skips class, smokes and urges Xiaoli to challenge the family’s toxic status quo. As escape glimmers, Shu Qi films with poised restraint, observing at a remove and tuning the viewer to intimate, everyday textures with a quietly harrowing strength. Tender yet unsentimental, Girl finds fragile beauty amid hurt and announces a formidable new directorial voice.
LOST LAND
Director: Akio Fujimoto
In this quietly powerful, first-ever Rohingya-language feature, Japanese filmmaker Akio Fujimoto offers a haunting, intimate portrait of two siblings fleeing persecution in Myanmar. With nothing but vague directions and each other, nine-year-old Somira and her younger brother Shafi begin a harrowing journey to join an uncle in Malaysia, crossing borders by sea and land and navigating a world shaped by smugglers, fear and exploitation. With a cast of non-professional actors, most of whom lived refugee experiences, the film blends realism with lyrical restraint. Eschewing melodrama for quiet observation, Fujimoto captures the disorientation of displacement and the uncertainty of fragile hopes. Lost Land is a timely, deeply human reflection on survival, resilience and the Rohingya’s eternal search for a place to call home.