Whispers in May (2026)

  • China, Hybrid, Society, Youth

DESCRIPTION

Qihuo has a secret: she’s just had her first menstruation. This marks the arrival of the‘Changing Skirt’ ceremony, a traditional coming-of-age ritual, which signifies she is no longer a child, but a woman bound to the communal demands of marriage and labor.

With her parents away as migrant workers and grandfather recently passed, Qihuo and her two best friends set out on a road trip to buy a skirt for her rite of passage. Blending raw documentary with an improvised fictional voyage, the film crafts a world inhabited by the girls that exists beyond social norms. Here, as the days go by and landscapes shift, the trio traverse the rugged mountains, chase shadows, and cherish fleeting moments. A time capsule, Whispers in May clings to the last moments of childhood, just before reality takes hold.

       

News & reviews

‘Lyrical, warm Chinese debut is poignant blend of documentary and fiction” Screen International

“A meditative lyrical observational documentary about a 14-year-old Chinese girl living in the remote Liangshan Mountains” ‘Whispers in May’ Review: Dongnan Chen’s Coming of Age Story | Variety

“Blends doc and improv into a magical journey from girlhood to womanhood’ ‘Whispers in May’ Interview on Improv Doc Film About Girlhood: CPH:DOX Hollywood Reporter

“the hybrid documentary gently draws us into the world of a 14-year-old girl and her two best friends’ Whispers in May | MODERN TIMES REVIEW

“ts compassionate gaze and the evident trust between filmmaker and subjects yield a delicate coming-of-age story anchored in moments of fleeting emotion’ Cineuropa

DIRECTED BY
Dongnan Chen, Tail Bite Tail FIlms, Muyi Film, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Sweden, South Korea, 2026, 95´
Festivals
CPH:DOX - DOX AWARD, Full Frame, Visions du reel, Hot Docs, Munich Dokfest, Margaret Mead FF, Subversive FF, Cinema Jove, Dokumentale Berlin, Aegean FF Greece, Cervino Cine Mountain FF, ERA New Horizons Wroclaw, Film Festival de la Lessinia, DOKUFEST Kosovo, Melbourne IFF, Pingyao IFF - Asian premiere, Sevil Women FF, Aachen FF, FIC UBA Argentina, IDFA - Best of Fests,
Awards
CPH:DOX - DOX:AWARD - Winner, Montagnes du Monde Award - Cervino Cinemountain FF, Apricot Tree IDFF - Filmadaran NGO special award
DIRECTOR BIO

Dongnan Chen crafts films that turn lived experience into cinematic fables, exploring transitional identities and the in-between spaces of reality and the imagined.

Her works include 14 Paintings (short, Sundance, IDFA, MOMA Doc Fortnight), Singing in the Wilderness (feature, IFFR, New Directors/New Films), Sound of Vision (short, Emmy-nominated), and The Trail from Xinjiang (short). Whispers in May, her second feature, won CPH:DOX’s DOX:AWARD 2026.

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