Chinese director Lan Hongchun’s Dear You, a runaway sleeper hit that has earned $293.4m (RMB1.99bn) in mainland China alone, is set to make its North American premiere as the closing film of the 25th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) on Sunday (July 26).
A unique characteristic of the nostalgic multi-generational drama is the use of the Teochew language, which is widely spoken in the Chaoshan region (comprising three major cities of Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang) in the southern Guangdong Province, but not nationwide.
It is the same distinctive language that defines Lan’s first two features. His feature debut, 2018’s Proud Of Me was the first Teochew-language film to receive a theatrical release in China and his second feature, 2022’s Back To Love, was also shot in Shantou in the same language. Dear You even prominently featured Shantou’s Chaoyang district, Lan’s hometown.
“Teochew is my mother tongue, and it’s the language that nurtures me,” Lan tells Screen. “My love for Teochew culture is the fundamental reason for choosing this language in my films.
“All three films are stories set in the context of Teochew culture. Even though the Chinese film titles include words like ‘dad’, ‘mom’ and ‘grandma’ respectively, my first two films focus more on family relationships, while my third mainly explores the bonds of friendship and affection between people.”
Dear You follows a debt-ridden man, played by Zheng Runqi, who travels from China to Bangkok in search of his long absent grandfather. Through a series of ‘qiaopi’ – remittance letters, which were the only way of communication between Chinese migrants and their family back home in the pre-Internet age – he discovers the long-buried truth of his supposedly rich grandfather, revealing the hardships of the earlier generations of overseas Chinese and a heartfelt story of sacrifice and devotion.
Spark of inspiration
Lan graduated from South China Normal University, majoring in Chinese Language and Literature. He landed his first job at Phoenix TV as a documentary writer-director before starting his own business, making promotional videos, commercials, documentaries and web series.
While filming his documentary Teochew Flavours Across Four Seas, he had the opportunity to meet many overseas Chinese families in Southeast Asia. “I gathered many true stories from them, which sparked my inspiration and led to the creation of the screenplay for Dear You,” he says.
The film has also achieved remarkable box office success in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. “Many overseas audiences share stories with me about their own families and ancestors, which evoke similar or identical emotions with the story of Dear You,” says Lan, who enjoys the audience interaction and engagement sessions.
“When I talk to overseas Chinese from different countries and watch the movie with them, it feels like watching a movie with my family. It creates this really warm and cozy feeling. No excessive communication is needed because all the emotions are understood and shared by everyone simultaneously.”
Casting unknowns
Cast members such as Li Sitong, Wang Yantong, Zheng, Zhong Shaoxian and Li Deru have accompanied him on different promotional tours. “The actors are all amateurs without professional acting training or relevant performing experience. Several lead actors were found through online and offline recruitment and extensive in-person interviews,” says Lan. One exception is Zheng, who has been a close collaborator since Lan ventured into feature films and played the main role in his first two features.
Lan is set to attend NYAFF with female lead Li Sitong, a first-time actor without formal training who has gained instant fame. He is also scheduled to travel to Thailand and Vietnam ahead of releases there.
Bangkok is where the present-day Bangkok scenes were shot, whereas the extensive flashbacks of old Bangkok and old Malaysia in the 1940s and 1950s were shot on location in Shantou and neighbouring Teochew-speaking cities Jieyang and Chaozhou.
King Ant Pictures and Damai Entertainment are among the key backers. The latter is also the local distributor in mainland China and international sales agent. It previously worked with Lan as the mainland distributor of Back To Love.
Dear You was a buzzy title at the Cannes market where Beijing Hugoeast Media organised a market screening. This first ever screening outside China was well attended by almost 50 international buyers and festival programmers. Beijing Hugoeast Media subsequently closed the sales for the UK, Ireland, France and Japan.
Well Go USA will release the film in North America on September 4.
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