Cannes Critics′ Week Prix Fondation Gan a la Diffusion, FIPRESCI PrizeFamily/ChildComing of AgeWomenHuman Rights/Labor/Social
After suddenly losing her father, Lin Juan, a bright girl living in a rural Chinese village, is left alone with her mother. Rumors about her mother’s remarriage begin to circulate, and Juan is soon sent to the city to live with Meishuang and her husband. Unable to find her place between the kindhearted Meishuang and her aloof husband, Juan learns that the couple lost their young daughter several years ago. Zou Jing, who began her career, making television documentaries and commercials, makes her debut in Cannes Critics’ Week with her first feature film about Lin Juan’s journey - she becomes Wang Juan in middle school, then Wu Lian, before finally finding the name and place that are rightfully hers. For audiences who remember the generous embrace of the sea in Our Little Sister (2015), this film will be a welcome present.
A Chinese writer-director. After working on television documentaries and commercials, she began making films that explore truths through the lives of people in contemporary China. Her short film Lili Alone (2021) won the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week and screened at more than 80 international film festivals, including the Melbourne International Film Festival. Her feature debut, A Girl Unknown, was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week in 2026.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
