About the Director

Yin Lichuan is a poet, screenwriter, and director who graduated from Beijing University’s Department of French Language and Literature. She wrote and directed films including The Park and Knitting, earning major international awards and selections at festivals such as Cannes, Toronto, and Moscow. She also wrote the screenplay for Under the Hawthorn Tree (Zhang Yimou) and directed the stage work Reshape and the web series My Way.

Director's Statement

This film is based on a true story: an ordinary woman from the Central China, at the age of 56, left her family and city behind to embark on a self-driving journey, and she is still on the road today.

In the film, she is called Li Hong, once the most common name. Because around us, there are tens of thousands of Li Hongs: grandmothers, mothers, ourselves, and our daughters, all could be Li Hong. They all face structural challenges of women or similar personal difficulties, and they all hope to have the courage to bring about change.

Instead of choosing to create a grand, scenic road movie, we focus on why she left and the struggles and conflicts she faced. This is not a world of clear-cut rights and wrongs. Li Hong is not only confronting a loveless marriage and an oppressive husband; her biggest challenge is the traditional and societal expectations that have shaped her, the demands of her family, and her own self-awareness. She chooses to listen to the voice within: "I want to explore a broader world and find my truest self." Struggles transcend gender, identity, and age, and so does change. We hope this film can offer warmth and encouragement to all who watch it.