Synopsis
Eighteen-year-old girl Li Qi failed the college entrance examinations. She disobeyed her mother, refusing to return to school to be a returning student. The relationship between Li Qi and her mother worsened. At classmate Xiaowei’s birthday party, Li Qi and Xiaowei had a quarrel. Li Qi smashed Xiaowei’s newly-bought iPhone in a rage. Unexpectedly, her originally peaceful summer life was changed after the quarrel. Facing the crisis of claiming compensation by her classmate, Li Qi chose to hide it from her mother, determined to keep it as her secret and solve the problem alone. And this secret was like a fishbone stuck in her throat, gradually becoming an unspeakable discomfort for her. The bitterness and pains of growing-up come one after another. She began to rethink her relationship with her mother, and her relationship with the world.
Zhang Xuyu
Zhang Xuyu, a young director and screenwriter, graduated with a master's degree in Directing Film and Television from Bournemouth University in the UK. His short films have been shortlisted for more than 20 domestic and international film festivals. His first feature film FISHBONE won the top five winning projects of the 6th CFDG China Young Film Director Support Program, and the honor of outstanding WIP project at the 13th Beijing International Film Festival, and the honor of WIP Finalist at the 2023 Golden Rooster Film Festival.
Director's statement
I have always wanted to write a story about youth, but there are so many stories about “youth”. The themes are so broad and I have never been able to write. At the beginning of 2020, the image of a stubborn girl gradually took shape in my mind. This girl is called LI Qi. LI Qi is eighteen years old and looks clean. Although she is not outstandingly good-looking, she is graceful. She is self-respecting and sensitive, surly and tough, like a combination of a hedgehog and an elk. What “Fishbone” wants to explore is how girls recognize and think about the relationship between themselves and their mothers, as well as themselves and the world at the stage when the mature shell is not yet solid.
