Chinese Cinema Cycle

Film directed by GUO Dalu
2023 | China | 95 min | Drama, Crime

Single mother Li Qingcao manages a stall in Shenzhen to make a living. The lack of a local household registration or property makes it difficult for her daughter to go to school. Once a left-behind child herself, Qingcao now confronts the dilemma of her daughter, who is on the verge of repeating her fate.

Meanwhile, in Li’s hometown, the remains of a man who had been killed for years were found at an abandoned primary school in a remote, impoverished mountainous county in Hunan. The deceased was the school's canteen manager at the time.

The decade-old murder case has now become incredibly complex and confusing, surrounded by mysteries. On a rainy night, Detective Han Yan returns to the crime scene for investigation and suddenly discovers a connection between the case and several left-behind children, unraveling both Li Qingcao’s secrets and his own in the process…