FNC – Queens of the Qing Dynasty

National Competition

Star, aged 19, is hospitalized after her most recent suicide attempt. When she meets An, the queer Chinese immigrant who’s been assigned as her caretaker, the two unexpectedly bond. Exploring inner torment and loneliness, Ashley McKenzie brings her heroine’s subjectivity to life through a radical aesthetic that distills tactile imagery, inventive camerawork and unsettling mises-en-scène into a work of surprising boldness. By turns challenging and contemplative, the Cape Breton director’s second feature, carried by the naturalism of its two non-professional leads (Sarah Walker and Ziyin Zheng), is a tribute to diversity, friendship and the mysteries of the human heart.