- Jun 5
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 12
Mothertongue (2025)
Screenplay: Lü Zhang / Shuyi Liu
Cast: Bai Baihe / Wang Chuanjun / Liu Dan / Peng Jin / Shuyi Liu
Genre: Drama / Romance
Production Country/Region: Chinese Mainland
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Runtime: 122 minutes
A film about loss and disappearance, about local language and memory, and about the slow reconstruction of the self upon returning home. Zhang Lu once again turns his gaze toward individuals who drift within cultural in-between spaces. After spending ten years in Beijing, theatre actor Fang Chunshu returns to Chengdu due to unexpected circumstances, only to discover an unfamiliar distance separating him from his hometown, his family, and even his former self.
As the title suggests, a tree growing new branches in spring does not signify a dramatic rebirth, but rather the quiet reawakening of life from deeply buried roots. Through calm and fluid observation, the film gently traces one man’s attempt to recover a lost sense of self during the process of returning home. Fragmented conversations, hesitant language, and understated tenderness gradually form a literary and deeply humane emotional texture.
As the quartet’s concluding movement, Mothertongue does not end with emotional intensity, but instead preserves a quiet tension beneath its flowing rhythm and lucid language. Like the final slow breeze of spring, it gathers the programme’s earlier movements — restlessness, growth, and drifting — before returning everything to silence, leaving questions of belonging and existence lingering within each viewer long after the screen fades to black.
Director Introduction
Zhang Lü is a Chinese film director and screenwriter of Korean ethnic origin. Before embarking on his filmmaking career, he worked as a novelist, and his early works mainly focused on disenfranchised people, particularly ethnic Koreans residing in China.
His 2003 debut feature Tang Poetry earned official selections at the 57th Locarno Film Festival, the 28th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival in South Korea, Vancouver International Film Festival and the 48th London Film Festival. His second feature Grain in Ear won the ACID Prize from the French Independent Film Distributors Association during the Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2007, Border was selected for the Competition lineup at the Berlin International Film Festival and garnered widespread critical acclaim. South Korea's renowned film publication *Cine21* ranked it the third-best film of that year.
After 2012, Zhang Lü relocated to South Korea to pursue his creative work and has since settled there. His thematic focus shifted toward ambiguous boundaries between dreams and reality, the interwoven textures of regions, spaces and landscapes, and the multifaceted interpersonal dynamics of characters’ identities. Beyond his film career, he serves as a professor at the Division of Culture and Media in the College of Global Human Resources and the Film Division of the Graduate School of Communication at Yonsei University.
Film Recommendation
Beneath its surface lies abundant dramatic conflict, yet Zhang Lü opts for delicate expression over exaggerated dramatization, lending the film an everyday texture that at times verges on documentary aesthetics.
Park Song-il, the cinematographer behind Zhang Lü’s *The Shadowless Tower*, which competed for the Golden Bear in the main competition of the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, captures not only the film’s characters but also Chengdu’s distinctive urban scenery, framing the protagonists amid canals, high-rise buildings and lush outdoor gardens.
—Jordan Mintzer
Screening Info
This screening event will be held at The Lexi Cinema from 17:00 to 19:00 on Saturday, June 6, 2026, marking the UK premiere of the film.
Ticket purchase link:
The specific screening venue:
194 Chamberlayne Road, London, NW10 3JU.
There will be an approximately 10-minute pre-film introduction before the movie starts, so audience members planning to attend are requested not to be late.
Pre-screen Introduction
Chris Berry is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London. In the 1980s, he worked at China Film Import & Export Corporation in Beijing. His scholarly research centers on Chinese-language cinema and other Chinese-language screen media, alongside relevant research focusing on neighbouring countries. His particular research interests cover queer film and television cultures across East Asia, mediated public spaces in East Asian cities, as well as national and transnational screen cultures in East Asia. Together with John Erni, Peter Jackson and Helen Leung, he co-edited the Queer Asia book series published by Hong Kong University Press. Prior to taking up his current post, he taught at La Trobe University in Melbourne, the University of California, Berkeley and Goldsmiths, University of London.
Straight from the Film Screening to the Dance Floor? A Special MOTHERTONGUE Perk is Here 🎬💚
This Saturday (6 June), Green Ray is partnering with ScreaM Kpop London for a special collaboration following the UK Premiere screening of MOTHERTONGUE at The Lexi Cinema.
🎟️ Everyone who purchases a ticket for MOTHERTONGUE will receive complimentary entry to ScreaM Kpop London, with a ticket value of £23. Simply present your proof of purchase to claim your entry.
✨ Watch the film, then head straight to the party
✨ A perfect night for both cinema lovers and K-pop fans
✨ One ticket unlocks a film screening and a music event
✨ Watch a film and get free access to a music festival experience
Presented by ScreaM Records, the electronic music label of SM Entertainment, in collaboration with London-based artists and promoters, the event will feature a diverse mix of K-pop, K-Bounce, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Drum & Bass, alongside immersive audiovisual performances by DJs and visual artists from Korea and the UK.
🎧 MOTHERTONGUE tells a story of youth, displacement, self-discovery, and transformation. After the screening, we hope that the energy and spirit of the film can continue beyond the cinema and into the city itself—allowing a summer night in London to shine through both storytelling and sound.
Green Ray ✖️ ScreaM Kpop London
🎬 MOTHERTONGUE (UK Premiere)：🕔 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM 📍 The Lexi Cinema
🎧 ScreaM Kpop London：🕓 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM 📍 E1 London, Unit 2, 110 Pennington Street, London E1W 2BB
Complimentary entry is available exclusively to MOTHERTONGUE ticket holders and is non-transferable.
From the cinema to the dance floor, from the screen to the music—join us for a unique evening of film and sound.
Videos and Photos from the screening event
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