Absence

The husband dreams that his wife leaves him, while he tries to save the relationship. Once awake and sleepless, he finds himself faced with their unchanged life, without understanding whether what has just happened is reality or just a dream.

Short film directed by Lang Wu. In 2021, Absence was nominated for Best Short Film at the 74th Cannes. After ten years in prison, Han Jiangyu returns to Hainan Island. Housing construction is booming, his childhood friend is now rich. Searching for traces of the familiar, Jiangyu meets his old love who now has a daughter.

An old man in a seaside village reunites with a deceased person on an uneventful afternoon, which is fleeting but rippling and presents a warm picture of time in the midst of memories and reality.