The Girl Next Door - Film Still

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01 / 04

The Girl Next Door

隔壁女人

CUI Mingjian

  • 15 min
  • 2025
  • Fiction
  • English, Mandarin, Cantonese
  • English and Chinese Subtitles

North American Premiere

Content Advisory: This film contains scenes of violence, disturbing content

The 20th FIRST International Film FestivalFIRST FRAME Short of the Year

8:00 PM, MON, NOV 23

Innis Town Hall

Screening + Q&A

Screening with Dear Kankan (17 min), Delay (15 min), Homecoming and Going (20 min), Other Side of a Seesaw (22 min)

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In a remote American college town, international student Rui kills her husband and spends a week with his body. Years later, their former neighbour still returns to the life next door, searching the silences and fractures of an ordinary marriage for what might have been quietly taking shape within.

Director

CUI Mingjian - Headshot

CUI Mingjian is a bilingual filmmaker from Nanjing, China, now based in Auckland, Aotearoa. While studying film production in the United States, she worked on over 40 short films, gaining experience across both above-the-line and below-the-line roles. From 2022 to 2024, she participated in A Wave in the Ocean, a film intensive in Aotearoa led by Jane Campion and Philippa Campbell. The Girl Next Door had its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival and was subsequently selected for the 20th FIRST International Film Festival in China, where it received the “Short of the Year” award in the FIRST FRAME section.

Credits

  • DirectorCUI Mingjian
  • Principal CastAnn AN, Roxie PU Yihan
  • ProducerEmma MORTIMER, Olivia SHANKS
  • Executive ProducerJane CAMPION, Philippa CAMPBELL
  • ScreenplayCUI Mingjian
  • CinematographerAdam LUXTON
  • Production DesignerMark GRENFELL
  • Costume DesignerSacha YOUNG
  • HMU DesignerKatie Melody ROGERS
  • EditorHSU Chia-chi
  • SoundMaxwell SCOTT
  • MusicEric LI Weilong
The Girl Next Door