Summary: | Wang Lina's experimental debut explores the sensitivity shared by narrative filmmaking and documenting reality, unveiling poetry from the minutiae of Uighurs' life in Xinjiang like none other. Tailing an endearing boy named Isa in Shaya, her heavenly home village surrounded by textured sand dunes and millennia-old trees, she tugs viewers' heartstrings with a story about treasures in his carefree childhood and how they gradually fade away, as love, home, and personal advancement get weighed against another for this generation of minority children, who must bid many farewells to assimilate into the more widely acknowledged best life. Also released as Di Yi Ci De Li Bie. Crystal Bear-Best Film Generation KPlus, Berlin International Film Festival, 2019. Media Choice Award for Filmmaker, Shanghai International Film Festival, 2019. Asian Future Best Film Award, Tokyo International Film Festival, 2018. Nominated for Best New Director, Faro Island Film Festival, 2021. In Uighur and Mandarin with English subtitles. Directed by Lina Wang. China.
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