Marriage on the Border

Language：Mandarin, Hokkien with English Subtitles

南方姑娘

UK Premiere

Synopsis Wenling is a girl from southern China who has fallen in love with a Taiwanese man, and has to undergo a gruelling interview to get her entry visa into Taiwan. While everything seems to be going well, a clandestine conspiracy is working against her dreams of a bright future.

Director’s Statement Marriage on the Border is based on a real-life case of sex trafficking, which has a significant social meaning in the Minnan region. I used an intricate ‘play-within-a-play’ narrative structure for the film: a well-rehearsed interview for an entry visa into Taiwan is nested within a sinister smuggling journey, in turn refracting social themes such as crime, desire, justice, and redemption. At the end of the film, one character becomes a symbol for the ‘southern girl forced into prostitution’, a well-known marginal figure of that era. The two leads thereby come to embody cycles of female tragedy.

Festivals & Awards

2021 the 20th International Student Film and Video Festival (ISFVF) of Beijing Film

Academy - Best Picture