A Girl Unknown

In 1980s China, against the backdrop of the one-child policy, a six-year-old girl is taken from her mother and sent to live with another family. Over the following years, she moves between three families, each time receiving a new name, a new home and a new identity. The film follows her from childhood to the age of 18, as she searches for a place to call home and people who might become a family. Between abandonment and new beginnings, moments of intimacy and disappointment, she navigates a troubled past and an uncertain future, longing for belonging, perhaps even love, while trying to forge a path of her own. In her impressive debut feature, Zou Jing tells an intimate coming-of-age story while portraying a generation shaped by China’s strict policies. With a sensitive, restrained approach and cinematography that stays close to its protagonist, she explores family, belonging and identity. Li Gengxi plays the young woman with remarkable restraint and emotional intensity. The film premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, where it won three awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize.