Friday, September 25th 2026, 10.00 am - Sunday, September 27th 2026, 11.00 pm

2024, 107 minutes
Director: ZHANG Zhongchen
Genre: Drama / Fiction Feature

Synopsis

In a village on the North China Plain, Fang Yuan, who was born deaf, lives together with his grandfather. During the day, he spends his time in the fields and among the cows; at night, he works as a security guard in a factory control room. Through the surveillance cameras, he silently watches the workers moving through the night — and Xia Tian, the girl for whom he quietly develops feelings.

But Fang Yuan’s withdrawn life is thrown off balance when his father Fang Lujun, who disappeared many years ago, is suddenly wanted by the police for murder. The investigation tears open old wounds and brings buried memories back to the surface: his fractured childhood, the death of his younger sister, his father’s mental illness, and the collapse of his family.

Between reality, memory, and inner visions, a quiet yet haunting family drama unfolds — a story about loss, guilt, and living with a past that has never truly passed. The Last Farewell tells of three generations of one family, of speechlessness and inner exile — and of people who, despite everything, remain bound to life.

About the Director

ZHANG Zhongchen is a Chinese director, screenwriter, and editor. He was born in 1991 in Suzhou, Anhui Province, and began working as a film editor in 2018. His editing credits include Mama (2020), which was screened at the Venice Film Festival, West Border (2023), which was invited to the Locarno Film Festival, and This Woman (2023), which was shown at Visions du Réel in Switzerland.

With The Last Farewell, ZHANG Zhongchen presents his feature film debut as a director. The story is closely connected to personal memories: In his director’s statement, he describes how the violent death of a childhood friend and his later return to that friend’s overgrown grave became the emotional starting point for the film. His own experience working night shifts as a security guard in a control room during his time as a student in Beijing also shaped the film’s visual world.

From these memories, ZHANG Zhongchen developed a story about a rural family in northern China, suppressed emotions, family fractures, and the traces that suffering leaves across generations. With The Last Farewell, he won the awards for Best Director and Best Film at the 15th FIRST International Film Festival.

aised the film’s calm narrative style, stylistic coherence, and sincere, haunting power.