My Dear Friend

Screening With

Rail (15min)

Screening + Panel Talk

A young urban woman Jingjing (Gabby SO) drives to a remote rural village in southern China, in search of her ex-boyfriend who has abandoned her and disappeared – but only to find his grandparents Shuimu (Robert LOH) and Fang (JIANG Hong) in their modest ancestral home. Shuimu’s mute friend Zhongsheng (LU Haoquan) feels that his days are numbered, and craves for returning to his hometown some 300km away to unearth his obscure past. Although reluctant and whiny, Jingjing takes the two lifelong friends in her car laden with funeral supplies, to a trip into the mists of time.

YANG Pingdao’s first fictional feature My Dear Friend reveals the unspeakable human emotions which cannot be simply categorized as love, kinship or friendship by everyone who is searching for a soul mate.

A native Cantonese born in 1980, YANG Pingdao graduated from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, and has been a director, scriptwriter and novelist. My Dear Friend is his first fictional feature, which has been selected to the Pingyao, Busan and Shanghai Film Festivals. Prior to this, he primarily made documentary films, including The River of Life (2013) which won many international awards.