Wang Yi

When internationally acclaimed artist Mo Ke announces that he is selling his prized painting, "The Falling Feather", and that he will donate all the proceeds from its sale to a small Yunnan town, everyone in the art world is puzzled and intrigued. Why is he doing this? To answer this question we are transported 20 years into the past, to when a young unknown painter visited Yunnan and was captivated and inspired not only by the beauty of the location, but by a young woman... with a feather in her hair.

Set in the city of Hangzhou, the film takes as its focal point a restless young man, Zhu Zi, following him as he aimlessly wanders through the city. Through a series of distinct vignettes, Yang depicts Zhu Zi's inability to find comfort in friends, lovers or environment as a reflection of the existential difficulty of China's "nameless generation," cast adrift during the rapid changes at the turn of the millennium.