European Premiere | In Competition | White Mulberry Award Candidate
China, 2025, 93’, Mandarin, English
Directed by: Yan Kunao
Screenplay: Yan Kunao
Cinematography (color): Zhao Tonghuan
Editing: Yan Kunao
Art Direction: Liu Qiyi
Costume Design: Liu Qiyi
Producers: Chen Qianfan, Lauren Yue Pan, Yan Kunao
Production Companies: Jet Lag Picture, Marching Together Films, Mili Media, Hehuo Lizi Media
Cast: Chen Shuyao (Jia Qi), Yan Kunao (Pingu), Maria Muller (Ada), Juen Kang
Date of First Release in Territory: TBA
The phenomenon of migration among the new generations of Chinese youth remains surprisingly underexplored in contemporary cinema. Yet the number of students leaving China each year to pursue their education abroad continues to rise, while the global geopolitical climate grows increasingly hostile to the very idea of assimilation. In this context, being an expatriate is no longer merely a transitional condition, it becomes a complex, fragile and often contradictory existential state.
The Covid-19 pandemic further intensified this fracture, turning mobility into enforced immobility, distance into isolation. Thousands of Chinese students found themselves stranded far from home, suspended between time zones, cultural identities and conflicting political systems. It was against this backdrop that the idea for this film took shape in Yan Kunao’s mind, the period between 2020 and 2023 when the director was trapped in China, unable to return to the United States to continue his studies due to the pandemic and the escalating trade war between China and the USA.
Once back in the USA, Yan Kunao rewrote the film, imbuing into it the new climate marked by episodes of racial intolerance and mistrust that erupted during and after the pandemic. The result is an intimate and melancholic portrait of a young couple forced to confront not only conflicting ambitions and desires, but also a distance rendered insurmountable by historical circumstances.
The main characters are Jiaqi and Pingu, two young creatives who, after having studied in New York, grapple with their entry into the world of work: she is an aspiring production designer, he is a fledgling director. When Jiaqi, who feels herself increasingly drawn back to their homeland, decides to accept a job offer on a Chinese production, Pingu remains in New York, striving to launch his first film. But Jiaqi’s return journey is abruptly interrupted: China suddenly closes its borders, and she finds herself stranded in Los Angeles, in a geographical and emotional limbo. In this suspended moment in time, both Jiaqi in California and Pingu in New York cross paths with two other expatriates – a South American woman who has emigrated to the United States, and a famous Korean actress – mirrors of themselves who further unsettle their relationship and their sense of identity.
The film fully embraces the traditions of independent cinema: made on a small budget, it stems from a collective effort in which members of the crew take on multiple roles in front of and behind the camera. Yan Kunao authors the project in its entirety, serving as writer, director, actor and editor. The film is also a declaration of love for the art of cinema, woven through with explicit and affectionate references to the great masters who shaped the director’s gaze. At the same time, it reveals a personal and recognisable voice, expressed through original visual choices, carefully composed shots and sequences. The film manages to make the emotional imbalance produced by distance, waiting and isolation almost palpable.
The Chinese title, which can be translated as “Eight or Nine O’Clock,” calls to mind a famous phrase by Mao comparing young people to the light and life-force of the morning. In the film, however, this image takes on a subtle ambiguity, becoming the symbol of an age suspended between momentum and bewilderment, hope and uncertainty. The English title, by contrast, explicitly alludes to distance: the geographical distance between New York and Los Angeles, between the United States and China, but also the emotional and temporal distance marked by the time zones separating the main characters during the summer in which the story unfolds. A distance the film observes with delicacy, transforming it into narrative substance and an experience to be shared with the audience.
Yan Kunao
Yan Kunao (b. 1998) is a screenwriter, director and producer. He graduated from the Communication University of China and later received his MFA in Directing from Columbia University. His first short film, Summer Swing premiered at the Shanghai international Film Festival and was shortlisted at the La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Film at Columbia University. His co-produced film Jing Guo was selected to the 74th Berlinale Film Festival. Jet Lag in Summer is his first full-length feature, and it premiered at the Pingyao International Film Festival in 2025.
FILMOGRAPHY
2025 – Jet Lag in Summer