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Sunken Plum

A transgender Chinese woman receives news of her mother's death. As the only "son", she feels obligated to return to her birthplace in the mountains, even though she'll have to hide her true self from family and friends.

  • Xiaoxi Xu
    Director
    Advent, Floating Melon, Ni Jing, Desire Street, Mei Mei
  • Roberto F. Canuto
    Director
    Advent, Floating Melon, Ni Jing, Desire Street, Toto Forever
  • Xiaoxi Xu
    Writer
    Advent, Floating Melon, Ni Jing, Desire Street, Mei Mei
  • Roberto F. Canuto
    Writer
    Advent, Floating Melon, Ni Jing, Desire Street, Toto Forever
  • Leng Zhiwen
    Producer
    Floating Melon
  • Gu Xiang
    Key Cast
  • Yu Yinmeng
    Key Cast
    Floating Melon
  • Tian Peng
    Key Cast
  • Li Lierong
    Key Cast
  • Chen Jiaqi
    Key Cast
  • Yao Zhexing
    Key Cast
  • Andrea Centazzo
    Music
    Advent, Floating Melon, Ni Jing, Desire Street, Toto Forever, Mei Mei
  • Guo Yong
    Cinematographer
    Floating Melon
  • Zhou Zuhua
    A.C.
  • Hou Fei
    Sound
  • Chen Hanlong
    Make Up/Hair
  • Cheng Chi
    Assistant Director
  • Yang Peixuan
    Line Producer
  • Roberto F. Canuto
    Editor
  • Xiaoxi Xu
    Editor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Chen Li (Ciruela de agua dulce)
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, LGBTQ, Mystery
  • Completion Date:
    October 19, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • 62 SEMINCI, Valladolid International Film Festival
    Valladolid
    Spain
    October 21, 2017
    World Premiere
    Official Selection - Punto de Encuentro
  • 22 LesGaiCineMad, Madrid International LGBT Film Festival
    Madrid
    Spain
    November 9, 2017
    Official Selection
  • 55 FICX, Gijon International Film Festival
    Gijon
    Spain
    November 22, 2017
    Award Laboral Cinemateca Best Short Film
  • 15 Zinegoak, Bilbao GLT Film Festival
    Bilbao
    Spain
    February 15, 2018
    Official Selection
  • 31 Medina Film Festival
    Medina del Campo
    Spain
    March 13, 2018
    Official Selection - Con Otra Mirada
  • 21 Malaga Spanish Film Festival
    Malaga
    Spain
    April 14, 2018
    Official Selection
  • 18th Cinhomo, Int. LGBT Film Festival
    Valladolid
    Spain
    April 17, 2018
    Official Selection
  • 9th LGBT Film Festival
    Warsaw
    Poland
    April 24, 2018
    Polish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 18th Radio City Int. Short Film Festival of Valencia
    Valencia
    Spain
    May 13, 2018
    Official Selection
  • 17th Aviles Accion Film Festival
    Avilés, Asturias
    Spain
    May 31, 2018
    Award Best Short Film, Mention by "Colegio de Periodistas de Asturias"
  • 15th Alicante Film Festival
    Alicante
    Spain
    June 1, 2018
    Award Best Film LGBT
  • 5th Requena y Acción Film Festival
    Requena (Valencia)
    Spain
    June 2, 2018
    Award Best Actor / Official Selection
  • 10th Reel Out Charlotte Film Festival
    Charlotte (North Carolina)
    United States
    May 17, 2018
    American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 1st CISFF, Cyprus Indie Short Film Festival
    Famagusta
    Cyprus
    May 19, 2018
    Cyprus Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 9th Kashish, Mumbai Int. Queer Film Festival
    Mumbai
    India
    May 24, 2018
    Asian Premiere
    Award: Special Mention Best International Short and Best Actor
  • 10 ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival
    Shanghai
    China
    June 16, 2018
    Chinese Premiere
    Award Best Script, Nominated Best Short
  • 36 Outfest, Los Angeles Film Festival
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    July 17, 2018
    USA West Coast Premiere
    Official Selection in Competition
  • 23 Fire!!, Barcelona LGBT International Film Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    June 11, 2018
  • 15 OutfestPeru International Film Festival
    Lima
    Peru
    June 30, 2018
    Peru Premiere
  • 3 El Rodeo Film Festival
    Rojales
    Spain
    July 7, 2018
  • 30 L'alfás del Pí Short Film Festival
    L'alfás del Pí
    Spain
    July 9, 2018
  • 14 Paraguay LesBiGayTrans Int. Film Festival
    Asuncion
    Paraguay
    July 12, 2018
    Paraguay Premiere
  • 6 Trans Pride Brighton Film Night
    Brighton
    United Kingdom
    July 20, 2018
    UK Premiere
    Best Narrative Short/Best Story
  • 25 OpenEyes International Filmfest
    Marburg
    Germany
    July 22, 2018
    German Premiere
  • 21 Motovun International Film Festival
    Motovun
    Croatia
    July 27, 2018
    Croatian Premiere
  • 7 Reel Desires Chennai International Film Festival
    Chennai
    India
    July 29, 2018
  • 9 Cerdanya International Film Festival
    Cerdanya
    Spain
    August 3, 2018
  • 17 El Pecado International Short Film Festival
    Llerena
    Spain
    August 7, 2018
  • 2 HIQFW, Hanoi International Queer Film Week
    Hanoi
    Viet Nam
    August 14, 2018
    Vietnamese Premiere
  • 1 Diverso Cinema, International LGBT Film Festival
    Cartagena de Indias
    Colombia
    August 18, 2018
    Colombian Premiere
  • 7 Riu Rau Film Festival
    Denia, Alicante
    Spain
    September 7, 2018
    Best Short Film LGTB
  • 13 Shorts Mexico, Mexico International Short Film Festival
    Mexico City
    Mexico
    September 10, 2018
    Mexican Premiere
  • 3 Queer Santander Film Festival
    Bucaramanga, Santander
    Colombia
    September 12, 2018
  • 29 HKLGFF, Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
    Hong Kong
    Hong Kong
    September 15, 2018
    Hong Kong Premiere
  • 26 Raindance international Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    September 30, 2018
  • 16 FESCIGU, Solidarity Film Festival of Guadalajara
    Guadalajara
    Spain
    October 4, 2018
  • II Donosskino, Donostia Short Film Festival
    San Sebastian
    Spain
    October 5, 2018
  • 28 Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival
    Oslo
    Norway
    September 22, 2018
    Norway Premiere
  • 8 Durban Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
    Durban
    South Africa
    September 23, 2018
    African Premiere
  • 4 Con Otra Mirada Short Film Festival
    Gijon
    Spain
    September 27, 2018
  • 2 Trans Stellar Film Festival
    Detroit
    United States
    September 28, 2018
    Michigan Premiere
    Best International Short
  • 16 Florence Queer International Film Festival
    Florence
    Italy
    October 5, 2018
    Italian Premiere
  • 11 Cine Movilh Film Festival of Chile
    Santiago
    Chile
    October 9, 2018
    Chilean Premiere
  • 4 Marmaris International Short Film Festival
    Marmaris, Mugla
    Turkey
    October 10, 2018
    Turkey Premiere
  • 10 Cape Town International Film Market & Festival
    Cape Town
    South Africa
    October 12, 2018
  • 1 Linz International Short Film Festival
    Linz
    Austria
    October 12, 2018
    Austrian Premiere
  • 27 Vinokino International Film Festival
    Turku, Helsinki & Oulu
    Finland
    October 14, 2018
    Finland Premiere
  • 5 Everybody's Perfect, Geneva International Queer Film Festival
    Geneva
    Switzerland
    October 15, 2018
    Switzerland Premiere
  • 15 FECISO, Social Cinema International Festival
    Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha
    Spain
    October 16, 2018
  • Bogocine, International Film Festival of Bogota
    Bogota
    Colombia
    October 20, 2018
  • 6 Protesta, International Film Festival on Social Critique
    Vic
    Spain
    October 28, 2018
  • 7 K-lidoscopi Short Film Festival
    Cullera, Valencia
    Spain
    October 19, 2018
  • 12 Llamale H, Sexual Diversity International Film Festival
    Montevideo
    Uruguay
    October 20, 2018
    Uruguay Premiere
  • 15 Kurz.film.spiele International Short Film Festival
    Konstanz
    Germany
    October 20, 2018
  • 22 Perlen Queer Film Festival of Hannover
    Hannover
    Germany
    October 25, 2018
  • 5 Riga International Film Festival
    Riga
    Latvia
    October 25, 2018
    Latvia Premiere
  • 8 SeoulPRIDE International Film Festival
    Seoul
    Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
    November 5, 2018
    Korea Premiere
  • 1 San Francisco Coming of Age International LGBTQ+ Short Film Festival
    San Francisco
    United States
    November 2, 2018
  • 11 Beijing Queer film Festival
    Beijing
    China
    November 5, 2018
  • 18 Holebi Film Festival
    Loeven
    Belgium
    November 6, 2018
    Belgium Premiere
  • 7 Outreels Cincinnati Film Festival
    Cincinnati
    United States
    November 9, 2018
  • 5 Playa del Carmen international Queer Film Festival
    Playa del Carmen
    Mexico
    November 9, 2018
    Best International Short
  • 34 Interfilm, International Short Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    December 5, 2018
  • 3 IQMF International Migrant and Queer Film Festival of Amsterdam
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    December 5, 2018
    Netherlands Premiere
Distribution Information
  • Laboral Cinemateca
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Xiaoxi Xu, Roberto F. Canuto

Xu Xiaoxi Biography
(Chengdu, China, 1981)

Graduated with a Fine Arts degree (Painting and Video Art) from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 2007). In 2009, he completed a Master in Fine Arts, at the New York Film Academy, Universal Studios, Hollywood. He has directed several short films, including Ni Jing: Thou shalt not steal (2013), Mei Mei (2009) and the experimental film The Fluxus of ID (2006). He is a regular collaborator of Roberto F. Canuto, with whom he completed his master-graduating feature project, Desire Street in late 2011. Together they have collaborated on other projects, in addition to directing work, in photography and writing, for example in Toto Forever (2010). His film Floating Melon (2015) was shot in Chengdu (China). Advent (2016), awarded in various festivals, represents his debut in Spain, and his latest work, Sunken Plum, is the final part of the trilogy “Invisible Chengdu”.

Roberto F. Canuto Biography
(Gijon, Spain, 1973)

Graduated in Audiovisual Communications from Complutense University (Madrid, Spain). Bachelor of Music studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Oviedo (Spain). In 2009, he completed a Master in Film Direction at the New York Film Academy of Universal Studios in Los Angeles. He has directed various shorts, among them the warded Toto Forever. His graduation feature film, Desire Street, co-directed with Xu Xiaoxi, is praised in Mexico and other film festivals. In 2011 he moved to China, where he founded, along with Xu Xiaoxi, the company Almost Red Productions, which alternates advertising with fiction works, like the awarded short films Ni Jing: Thou shalt not steal (2013) and Floating Melon (2015), the last one a Chinese-Spanish coproduction. Advent is his debut in Spain, and has received various awards in a variety of festivals. His latest short, Sunken Plum, completes the Chinese trilogy “Invisible Chengdu”.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The initial idea for Sunken Plum comes from watching a couple of videos shared on various social networks (we have included an excerpt of them in the final credits of the film). Those videos document the real life physical and psychological abuse of transgender people by local authorities, and, consequently, were quickly censored from the internet. Transsexuality, like homosexuality, is considered by the regime to be a perversion (to such a degree, that it is even compared to rape and pedophilia in several governmental documents related to audiovisual censorship). In recognizing the enormous difficulties that this community faces in order to live a in a dignified life, such as the lack of legal protection and having to tolerate the contempt of much of Chinese society on a daily basis, we decided to write this story. We wanted to shine some light on the difficult position that members of this community find themselves in and the often-tough choices they have to make perhaps to make people understand that being “trans” is just a different way of living, a different aspect of our larger society and that people should not be ostracized or mistreated because of this. In “Sunken Plum”, we focused on the conflicting situation faced by a trans woman who must return to her hometown to attend her mother's funeral, but in order to do so, she has to recover her previous identity. Portraying an inner struggle where the heartache of not having her mother know her true persona, Li Wanying, before she died. An emotional whirlpool where questions of love, support, identity and redemption, all come into play.

The pre-production process was very complicated, initially due to the lack of institutional support and the impossibility of finding private funding. The reason being that works of this nature do not have any type of mainstream distribution channels in China and has to be circulated underground. Together with the investment of our production company, the film was financed thanks to a crowdfunding campaign. Many people collaborated, knowing that our intention with the film was to draw attention to the difficulties faced by the LGBT community, in particular transgender and transsexual individuals, in China. This makes the project very special, because in a large part it is sponsored and made possible by the broad range interest and collaboration of various members of Chinese society, who simply want the status quo to change.

Another element the film shows is the different attitudes of acceptance when it comes to the existence of the LGBT community in Chinese village life (rural) and city life (urban). Reactions are divergent, accentuated by factors of ignorance and rejection more prevalent in the smaller communities, where the familiar and social relationships are held in higher regard and experienced as more intense. An idea that is widely held and especially popular in villages, is that homosexuality and LGBT behavior has been created and spread in China by the arrival of Westerners who have perverted local customs.