Director: Dong Shunqing

Synopsis

Shi Ye, an art student, stands at the crossroads of graduation, caught between her mother's expectations and her own desires. The city's forest of steel and the murky river make up her oppressive daily life, until a poster of Mauritius plants the seed of a dream: the blue sea becomes a symbol of escape. She begins piecing together an imagined faraway place from postcards and painting idealized waves on canvas, and reality and fantasy gradually blur. But when an urgent call says her mother is critically ill, the dream is torn open and she is forced to choose between responsibility and desire. Is what we pursue real freedom, or an illusion manufactured by consumerism? With poetic camerawork moving between the mist of a river city and vivid seascapes, the film uses surreal touches to explore how individuals find their place amid urbanization. In the end, Shi Ye's figure walking toward the ferry crossing leaves an open question: the answer to life may lie not on a distant shore, but in the courage to keep going after facing reality.