Zhou Dongyu
Winner Profile
Best Actress
As Chen Nian, Better Days
Jury Citation
In Better Days, Zhou Dongyu gives a precise performance full of layers and tension, portraying a sensitive girl who is bullied at school yet still holds on to hope and courage. Her performance runs still and deep, revealing beneath the character's gloomy, silent exterior a mix of endurance, loneliness, fragility, resolve and kindness, and it carries a powerful emotional force. Winner of Best Actress.
Better Days: Synopsis
Chen Nian (Zhou Dongyu) is a high school senior about to sit the national college entrance exam. The suicide of Hu Xiaodie (Zhang Yifan), a schoolmate who jumped from a building, throws her life into turmoil. After Hu Xiaodie's death, Chen Nian is bullied by a trio led by Wei Lai (Zhou Ye). Wei Lai appears to be a well-behaved top student but is in fact vicious, and she is closely tied to Hu Xiaodie's death. By chance, Chen Nian meets a young petty criminal named Xiaobei (Jackson Yee). Over time, the two kindred spirits develop real feelings for each other. Xiaobei promises to protect Chen Nian from Wei Lai's bullying in secret, but this decision sets off a chain reaction. Police officer Zheng Yi (Yin Fang), who is investigating Hu Xiaodie's death, senses something strange in the atmosphere at the school, but his investigation is repeatedly obstructed by the school.