The Foolish bird

Aiming to introduce a new generation of Chinese filmmakers’ independent work and thinking, the festival presented a lineup of young Chinese directors whose work varies across styles and genres. Having received awards at festivals such as the Cannes International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival, the featured filmmakers included Hu Bo, Huang Ji, Yang Mingming, Yang Lina, Li Xiaofeng, and Liu Jian. The film program took place at Asia Society in New York City from October 20 to 21, 2018, and Metrograph from November 2 to 4, 2018. Hu Bo's film An Elephant Sitting Still was presented at the Film Society of Lincoln Center from March 8 to March 28, 2019.

Returning to the subject of China’s “left-behind children”—sent to live with relatives while their parents seek better paying work elsewhere—Huang crafts the intimate, troubling tale of Lynn (Honggui Yao, returning), a teenager trying to find her way in the dead-end Hunan province town where she lives with her grandparents, hemmed in on all sides by seemingly insurmountable social barriers, routine abuse of power, and the threat of sexual violence, her only refuge her friendship with another local girl, May (Fang Yao). Grimly grand, and as tough as the truth.