Best Director - Berlin Film Festival 2025
It is 1991, and Chinas socio-economic transformation is profoundly affecting the lives of individual families across the vast nation. Peasant farmers face challenges and technological advances that are radically reshaping their rural way of life. In response, ten-year-old Chuangs parents have opted to move away to seek work in the city, leaving their third child behind to be raised by extended family and neighbours in their countryside village community. An intimate yet sprawling saga spanning four generations unfolds, navigating cycles of life through the changing of the seasons.
Huo Meng was born in Taikang, Henan Province, China. He first studied law at the Communication University of China before embarking on a master’s degree in cinema at the same institution. In 2018, he made his first fiction feature “CROSSING THE BORDER - ZHAOGUAN”, which won the Pingyao International Film Festival Fei Mu Award for Best Director, the Fajr International Film Festival Best Asian Director Award, and a Best Director nomination at the Golden Rooster Film Festival. Selected by director Jia Zhangke, “CROSSING THE BORDER - ZHAOGUAN” was screened at the 70th Berlinale as part of the “On Transmission” special program.
M Appeal
