Dearest

Based on true events, DEAREST introduces us to Tian Wenjun, the proprietor of an internet café in the huge city of Shenzhen who argues constantly with his ex-wife about the care of their little son Pengpeng. One night a fight breaks out in the shop. Tian Wenjun intervenes – and the boy is gone. As the distraught parents struggle to find their son, they’re dragged on a hellish journey through a world of lackadaisical bureaucrats and unscrupulous con men. Yet after three agonizing years, a miracle occurs: they track down Pengpeng with his new “mother,” whose husband seems to have abducted the boy. But the family’s happy reunion fades, since Pengpeng has forgotten his birth parents and clings screaming to his new mother. Tian Wenjun realizes he is now the kidnapper – of his own son. From beginning to end, DEAREST is a searing look at child abduction in China, and its repercussions on parents who have lost their one allowable child. (In Mandarin with subtitles) – B.B.