ANOTHER STORY ABOUT LOVE AND HOPE

Director Yanqi Chen

Genre Drama, Comedy

Location Beijing

Language Mandarin

Running time 100 minutes

Stage of production in development

Country of production France, Canada

Year 2026

AWARDS

Special Jury Mention - DANAFF 2025

Bangkok International Film Festival Asian Project Pitching

LOGLINE

An unheralded film director decides to consume the ‘underclass’, while an underground security guard aspires to move up the social ladder.

SYNOPSIS

Zhang, a struggling director in Beijing, stumbles upon a security guard named Chen, whose breakdown sparks unexpected inspiration. Zhang begins filming Chen’s life, capturing daily routines and intimate family moments. But as the pandemic reshapes reality, their relationship fractures, trust turns to exploitation, and art to betrayal. When both are discarded by the systems they served, the camera, which was a tool for documenting reality, becomes a medium of violence. A story about power, authorship, and the fragile line between hope and despair.

Director — Yanqi Chen

Yanqi Chen is a new director and screenwriter based in China.

After graduating from London Film School in 2016, he started to work on his first feature film Day Tripper, which has been selected in the 39th Warsaw International Film Festival, the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival, the 46th Moscow International Film Festival, the 23rd Transilvania International Film Festival. Also it has won the Grand Prix in the 38th Fribourg International Film Festival in 2024.

Apart from the feature, he also made some shorts in the meantime.