Summer Knows

20 minutes | 2023 | Fiction | Chongqing Dialect | English and Chinese Subtitles

North American Premiere

Summer of 2001, as Beijing wins the bid to host the 29th Summer Olympics, an ordinary Chinese family is slowly falling apart. Catching glimpses of the distress and secrets harboured by each family member, Hui, an innocent six-year-old girl, only wants to seize the summer while it lasts.

Writer-director ZHONG Hongshi earned her BFA from NYU Tisch Film & TV and her MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts. She is passionate about exploring the complexities of family dynamics across different cultures and seeks to capture the universality in human’s emotional experiences. Her latest short film Summer Knows is an official selection for Shanghai International Film Festival and has won the Audience Awards at the NOWNESS Short Film Awards and Best Screenplay at 86358 Jia Village Short Film Week; her short film Toad has also been recognized at over 30 international film festivals.