Experiencing Interruptions?

No Returns

An 18-year-old American adoptee travels to China to meet her birth mother for the first time, seeking an answer to her lifelong question: “Why did you give me up?”

  • Youwen Ma
    Director
    Director, Writer
  • Youwen Ma
    Writer
    Director, Writer
  • Joyce Liu-Countryman
    Writer
    Producer, Co-writer
  • Joyce Liu-Countryman
    Producer
    Producer
  • Jason Don
    Producer
    Producer
  • Zoe Kim
    Key Cast
    "18 Year-old Katie"
  • Victoria Nea
    Key Cast
    "14 Year-old Katie"
  • Meilee Condron
    Key Cast
    "8 Year-old KATIE"
  • Kim Reed
    Key Cast
    "Sara"
  • Debbie Fan
    Key Cast
    "Mrs.Chu"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Coming-of-age, Family Drama
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 46 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 8, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    65,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    Chinese, English
  • Shooting Format:
    super 16
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:2.39
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival
    Houston, Texas
    United States
    April 21, 2018
    Houston Premiere
    Remi Award
  • Napa Valley Film Festival
Director Biography - Youwen Ma

Youwen Ma recently earned her MFA in directing from the American Film Institute Conservatory. She received her BA in Film and TV Production from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and studied at Hong Kong Baptist University, National Chengchi University in Taiwan and UCLA, where she concentrated on cinema studies and screenwriting. Before coming to AFI, she had served as assistant director on television shows at Shanghai Media Group and worked in investigative television journalism at Shanghai Television Station. She was a development intern at Captivate Entertainment at NBCUniversal, and a script reader for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.

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Director Statement

The moment I saw Hazel we bonded immediately and became friends in an instant: We both have black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and live in California. We use English to communicate with each other even though we both are born in China. Hazel was born in Anhui, China and adopted by American parents when she was a little baby. She has no idea who her biological parents are. Since China’s “ One Child Policy” was implemented in 1979 and opened international adoption in 1989, 150,000 Chinese children have been adopted around the worlds. 80,000 live in the US. Mostly girls.

Inspired by true stories, “ No Returns” is a coming-of-age story about acceptance, fitting in, letting go and moving forward with life. Set in the US and China, this story is developed with the belief that something culturally specific can become universal. While this story has abandonment, and transracial adoption, and is related to the traditional Chinese cultural preference for boys over girls, it’s about rejection, acceptance, forgiveness and human conditions. To Katie, she faces rejection from her birth family, from Asian-American community where she couldn’t fit in, from those heartbroken moments when she misunderstood her adoptive mom who truly loves her. It’s through her struggling to fit in that she starts to discover who she is as a human being and comes to understand more fully the meaning of family and love. We all have experienced some kind of rejection, and how we cope with rejection defines who we are. When we encounter pain in life, it’s okay to cry and confront our feelings. Perhaps one of the most beautiful elements of the human conditions is our ability to feel intensely and to go through life experiencing the range of emotions that we have the capacity to feel. By making this movie, I wanted to explore the joys and tribulations of life.

I made this movie for everyone who ever has the thought of looking for something more in life to fill up the hole inside them, and to finally have a sense of belonging. We all have “what if” moments that drive us to risk over and over. To Sara, she became a family with Katie in an instant when she adopted Katie. To Katie, her flying to China where she was abandoned and lost her natural family is courageous. Neither of them had any idea what lay ahead when the journey started. Their obstacles are internal; they are haunted by compromises, and the hidden sadness. But it’s their deeply wanting to love and to be loved that empowers them to desperately try to connect with people.