Single Mother and Journalist, Guo Jianbo lives together with her mother and daughter. Walled in traditional family conventions, the relation of three generations of women is distant and uneasy; but behind the silence of Guo Jianbo, her daughter’s insecurity and the grandmother’s constant whining, there are conflicting undercurrents of rebellion, family care and resilience. Yang Lina uses the story of an all-female family to present a series of multi-levelled themes, epitomising women relations in Chinese society.

Screening as a part of Personal Cinema from China a season of fiction and non-fiction films from China curated by Wifak Gueddana as part of an MA in Film Studies, Programming and Curation at the NFTS. The season runs for ten weeks with three screenings at the ICA and 7 Films streaming online.

Produced in the last decade or so, between 2010 and 2023. The works in this season offer urgent and often raw insights into issues of personal struggle, family, belonging and social justice existing in China today.

The title of the season suggests a personal and matter-of-fact-approach that the filmmakers have taken to pace themselves in front of the camera o simply turn it to record the old home ‘loa jia’, exploring and reflecting on the psychological difficulty of positioning themselves in relation to China rapid transformations and urbanization.