Crossing the Border Zhaoguan, Guo Zhao Guan, 过 Z关 (2018) dir. Meng Huo

Based on elements of personal memories and old Chinese folk songs, Crossing the Border follows a sevenyearold boy, Ninging (Yunhu Li), and his 70yearold grandfather, Li Fuchang (Taiyi Yang), spending the summer holiday together. When Fuchang finds out that a friend from his youth has suffered a stroke, he decides to take the severalthousandmile motorcycle trip with his grandson to visit him. Crossing the Border is highly personal, conceptual road trip drama, done on a low budget, which at the same time manages to entertain, give insight into different generation mindsets in todays Chinese society and also debate complex philosophical topics. In just 94 minutes runtime, Meng Huo has shown himself a worthy director worthy of following in the future.