客人

If we regard wandering as a way of inhabiting a place without claiming ownership or blending into it—a notion still open to question—the inner movement within this wandering, which sometimes feels like stillness, indeed traces an irreversible line toward a gradual dispossession of self. Dispossession in all its forms, yet primarily there is the issue of language. In the short film Le Livre laissé blanc, we explore the protagonist’s conscious journey as she confronts her loss of language within the inner landscape of her wandering. She attempts to remember her lost language or, alternatively, to make the language of the Other her own.

Directed by Wang Ziyang, 客人 leans on a strong ensemble — Nathan Sperber, Xiao Xiaoyue, Jinjin Sun — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 0.