Girls Always Happy

Part of China Art x Film Series, co-presented with China Onscreen Biennial, Creative China Festival and Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation

Girls Always Happy
Dir. by Yang Mingming
2018. 117 min. Digital. Color.
Sunday, October 21, 2018, 4:00 pm
Followed by Q & A with director

Yang Mingming, one of China's up-and-coming young female directors, dissects traditional family values by zooming in on the fragile connection between a single mother and her only daughter in Girls Always Happy. Xiao Wu's dreams of independent living in Beijing is disrupted when her mother decides to move in with her and imposes her way of life in the house. Co-dependency and dysfunctionality reach new heights as the film explores unfamiliar forms of familial love.

Girls Always Happy is the first feature film Yang Mingming (b. 1987 in Beijing, China) has written and directed, where she also plays the role of the daughter Xiao Wu. Previously she edited Yang Chao's Silver Bear-winning film Crosscurrent (2015), and was the director, cinematographer, and lead actress of the short Female Directors (2012). Her unique perspective on female relationships in contemporary China injects a fresh, youthful narrative in the male-dominant Chinese film landscape.

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