A remarkable original first feature by a man who wanted to be a footballer before he became a director. This film explores the slow, painful death of villages in the Chinese countryside, without sentimentality or easy nostalgia. And it does so with a startling gender twist. Each image burns itself into the memory.

This film is a loud cry of pain from a cruel civil war of the late 1980s. It shares the perspective of one woman, a wife who loses her husband and a mother whose struggle to hold her family together ultimately costs her the respect of her children. An under-reported story from yesterday is made urgently relevant in the modern world.

For her ability to tell a story and express the feelings of her young characters in a very sensitive and simple way. The director has successfully used close-up shots of the children in a way that captures our heart.

This film depicts emotions that we all share, regardless of the environments in which we were born and raised, and most of all, its view of the world is utterly absorbing. What's more, it stresses the importance of entertainment that also raises awareness of important issues. We hope that viewers will reconsider the meaning of what it is to be "normal" through this superb film.