Always
Deming Chen / United States, France & China / 2025 / World Premiere / 84 min
A Chinese boy discovers the power of poetry in a picturesque and magical film from a mountain village. A striking debut of great beauty.
Deep in the lush mountains of Hunan province, Youbin lives with his father and two grandparents. He is 8 years old and he is a poet. The family is poor and lives on what they can grow. But at the village school, the children are taught Chinese poetry, and Youbin discovers the magical power of language to describe one’s feelings and place in the world.
Out in the mountains, you are close to the earth, surrounded by nature. But Youbin’s heart is lonely. His mother ran away when he was three months old and his father lost one of his arms in an accident. Debut filmmaker Deming Chen describes Youbin’s formative journey in beautiful black and white images, allowing Youbin’s poems to fill the screen in all their calligraphic beauty.
Where Youbin expresses himself in few and well-chosen words, ‘Always’ creates a cinematic universe around him that is both adventurous and realistic. But as time passes, Youbin grows up and becomes a young man who must face reality and the future. One of the most remarkable debuts in recent years from a filmmaker with a fully formed artistic vision.