Confucian Dream

In rapidly developing China, the educational system is geared toward producing competitive and productive workers, but not all parents want to teach their children to devote their life to work. Chaoyan, who graduated in a technical field, finds the answer to her inner emptiness in the study of Confucian writings. She wants to impart the moral foundations of this traditional philosophical school to her young son Chen. Debut director Mijie Li captures the change in atmosphere at home that results from Chaoyan’s alternative child-rearing, and gives viewers a unique opportunity to observe an individual’s struggle for their own identity, so forcefully suppressed by society. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)