CONFUCIAN DREAM

FESTIVALS:
* Hot Docs - Toronto, Canada
* Karlovy Vary
* Antenna
* Haifa
* Astra Film Festival
* China Screens
* Minsk International Film Festival
* Verzio Film Festival
* GZDoc
* Aswan International Woman Film Festival
* Chai - China Documentary Film Festival
* Dublin IFF
* Glasgow Film Festival

AWARD:
- Grand Jury Award - Aswan international Women Film Festival in Egypt
- Best Documentary - Dublin International Film Festival
- Best Global Impact China Documentary Award and
- Best Feature Length Documentary Award
  at GZDOC Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival
- Independent Spirit Award - Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival
- DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
- Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Award Ceremony Karlovy Vary Film Festival


CONFUCIAN DREAM

Category | Education, Religion, Motherhood
Year | 2019
Country | China - USA
Running time | 88’ - 52’
Format | HD
Production | Mijie Li
Director | Mijie Li


Chaoyan, a young wife and mother, discovers the ancient teachings of Confucianism and hopes they will restore balance, respect and morality to her home. She becomes a zealous convert and involves her impressionable four-year-old son in her rigorous routine of chanting daily mantras. Little Chen may not yet understand the recitations’ meanings, but mom is confident she’s planting a seed for the future.

Chaoyan’s husband, Mei, finds their study schedule excessive, but tolerates it until she proposes that Chen attend a year-round Confucian school. While Confucianism’s primary purpose is to instil peace and harmony, the opposite occurs between this husband and wife as their beliefs clash and their arguments escalate. A gripping portrait of marital and parental crisis, Confucian Dream demonstrates the devastating effects of misplacing your expectations of a spouse onto a child.

REVIEW

"With great sensitivity, Confucian Dream presents the viewer with the specific outcome of a woman’s conversion, but at its heart, it explores universal truths about relationships."
    - by Chelsea Phillips-Carr, Point of View Magazine, (Hot Docs 2019]

PRESS PHOTOS

CONFUSIAN DREAM CONFUSIAN DREAM


TRAILER

Confucian Dream - Trailer from CAT&Docs on Vimeo.