Whispers in May

Unfortunately, Qihuo lives completely alone in a remote mountainous area of South China; her mother works as a migrant laborer in the city. In conversations with her close friends, the plan arises to buy a skirt themselves, far away on the other side of the mountains.

During this long trek, partially captured in improvised fiction by filmmaker Dongnan Chen, the girls discuss their future prospects against the backdrop of a majestic mountain landscape. Like an odyssey into adulthood, they encounter various characters along the way, exchanging myths and eerie legends.

Chen emphasizes the imaginative atmosphere with animations depicting traditional fables. As long as they can still be children, the friends cherish the hope that they can determine their own future, delaying the harsh reality of arranged marriages or factory work for a little while longer.