What is the story?
The Missing Chinese Girl is a bittersweet drama short film explores and celebrates female friendship. It tells the story of a Chinese young woman navigating her post-uni life in London who learns about her best friend’s disappearance and questions how she could have done things differently.
One day woken up by the notification sound of a barrage of messages, Aimee learns of Mira’s disappearance. Throughout the day, she tries all the methods she could think of to get hold of Mira while remembering their last day out together...
Why is this story?
Hi, my name is Emma Nan Hu and I am the writer/director of The Missing Chinese Girl. I was born and raised in China, though I’ve been living in England for almost 15 years now. As a producer and self-shooting director, I’ve worked in the UK and China providing short form documentaries and video contents for both artistic and corporate projects since 2011. After producing and directing five narrative short films, I discovered my passion and started my production company What Else Can We Make in order to tell more stories that shine a light on cross-cultural experiences.
Website IMDb
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The Missing Chinese Girl is a story about the struggles of a young adult living in a foreign country, and how friendship provides support and a sense of belonging. Those inner struggles are something what many of us share and yet rarely talk to others about.
I started writing the script in 2018, though I believe this story has become more relevant now than ever. The pandemic has reminded us how much we all crave for connections with other human beings. In the most devastating year of our time, we have seen the greatest compassion, kindness and friendship that people offer each other. These are what would help us keep going and overcome any hardship in our lives. And that’s one of the messages I hope our audience will take away from this film.
As a filmmaker, I want to tell powerful stories that resonate with audiences regardless of their family heritage. However, due to my own cross-cultural background, I do have a sense of obligation to provide a different perspective of the Chinese community in the UK for future generations of audiences. By making this film, I hope to deliver an authentic self-representation by portraying three nuanced female characters of Chinese ethnicity on screen.
We’ve assembled an international team of very talented and experienced yet so passionate and devoted actors and filmmakers. Please meet:
The Cast
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AIMEE - Vinna Law
Vinna Law is a Malaysian made and London based Actor-Creator. She holds an MA in Acting from East 15 Acting School and runs an international all-women theatre company, Cognatus.
“The main reason why I was interested in working on this piece was how familiar it was upon my first full reading of the script. Aimee’s relationships and encounters with the people throughout the story reminded me a lot of my own journey here in the UK and I’m sure others who came from a different country to live here would feel the same. Emma really highlighted the fact that people like us usually live quietly under the radar; the uncertainty, loneliness, the fear of burdening others with my own problems but also wanting to have someone to lean on and perseverance despite not being seen or heard.”
Website
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MIRA - Dandan Liu
Born and raised in Beijing, Dandan Liu was originally trained as a child singer with National Radio Choir. She found her passion in theatre eventually, and decided to train to become an actor. After graduating with a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts, she relocated to London and furthered her acting training at City Lit between 2014 and 2016. In 2020 she was cast as Yuki - a Tibetan secret agent in spy thriller London Confidential playing opposite Mouni Roy. She has just wrapped on BBC's Silent Witness Season 24 playing Marie Yuen filming opposite Emilia Fox - the series will be aired in Autumn 2021.
“I was attracted to the project mainly due to the fact that the film intends to explore the fragility of human nature and unpredictability of life events, as well as how young people deal with the consequences. The Missing Chinese Girl presents a unique point of view of life from a young isolated woman's fighting with venerability - I was very touched by the script upon receiving it and hence decided to be involved in this project to approach these sensitive elements the film touches on through my acting.”
IMDb
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MANDY - Belinda Duong
Belinda is a multi-talented British Chinese actress and model. She has been the face of many international and household brands. Her debut feature film is the upcoming family comedy Fortune Cookies, directed by Brenda Lee with support of BBC Children in Need. Belinda is an avid globetrotter who has travelled to over 30 countries to date. Other credits include: Spirals (2019), Fear of the Lotus (2018), Ambitendency (2017)
“I am excited to be collaborating with Emma and the team on The Missing Chinese Girl because it delves into different cultures that resonate with me. The emotional story carries a personal connection, where I want to explore and further my own understanding of relationships, friendships and regret. I am passionate to bring my own influences to the character of Mandy, who like myself is British Chinese and have similar upbringings.”
IMDb
The Crew
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Producer - Dominic Ryan
Dominic Ryan is a producer/director who has been involved with many productions over the years from short form to feature film length. He is pro-active and always work hard to solve any problem given to him. In May 2020, he produced/directed a film over Skype called Four Walls, which was a Covid inspired story, that has since gone around the world in various festivals and has picked up numerous awards.
“What initially struck me about The Missing Chinese Girl was the universal aspect of friendship. One of the most poignant feelings I found was the sudden jolt one would feel when something ends unexpectedly. Aimee is given no warning whatsoever about Mira’s disappearance, and is left unprepared for whatever feelings will eventually surface. Most relationships we experience in life happen in given moments of time and as we grow older, fewer and fewer people may – for whatever reason – no longer be a part of your life. We never know when we do anything in life if it may be the last time we do it, and that’s one of the biggest aspects of this story that intrigues me.”
Website IMDb
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Director of Photography - Ariel Artur
Based in London, Ariel has lensed over 60 films with recent features shot in France, Italy, USA and UK. His background in theatre and photography and a strong collaborative approach translates into solid partnerships with fellow filmmakers and cast. Member of ABC (Associação Brasileira de Cinematografia), he has been working worldwide with projects spanning from features and shorts to documentaries and music videos.
2019 Best Cinematographer for ‘Chasing Shadows’ - Flicks Film Festival 2018 Best Cinematography for ‘Happy Birthday, You Loser’ - London Short Series Fest
“The Missing Chinese Girl has an intense narrative but depicted in a very sensitive way, touching on many elements that are so rooted in contemporary society yet so subjective to the way we relate to them. The story so well crafted by Emma Nan Hu dives into how lonely we can be even when we are surrounded by people, and this theme has really drawn me into the project especially regarding the visual approach Emma had in mind for the film. The idea of dwelling into the different worlds that the character belongs – or attempts to – and their inherent dichotomies, such as the pursuit to feel at home as a foreigner in another country and living up to professional standards that shape and threaten our personal values, offered a singular space to collaborate as a cinematographer. The challenge of appropriating ourselves with Aimee’s character and her emotional journey through loss and self-reflection and how amplified that can be for non-natives facing daily life as expats, seemed like an unmissable chance to explore the extent of a friendship’s impact on one’s life and how it can inform one’s choices and the path ahead.”
Website IMDb
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Sound Recordist/Sound Designer - Miguel Rodriguez
Miguel Rodriguez Puente is a sound recordist, editor, and designer based in London with seven years of experience. Born in 1985, he studied music from the age of 9. Since then he has been involved in jazz and classical bands, orchestras, and drum ensembles. He studied Sound Arts and Design at the University of Arts, London, where he produced two radio plays. He graduated in 2014 and since then he has worked on film sets and also as a dialogue, foley, and sound effects editor, ADR mixer, and re-recording mixer. Miguel has worked on a number of cinema-released feature films, as well as shorts, documentaries, ads, and a variety of audiovisual productions, and produced voice-over work.
“I like Emma both as a person and a filmmaker, and I'm always up to working with her. It also helps that in this case the script is very good and the resulting film promises to be one I'll be proud to add to my portfolio. It should be, then, a pleasure and an honour.”
IMDb
