- May 29
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 7
The Crossing (2018)
Director: Bai Xue
Screenwriters: Bai Xue / Lin Meiru / Sun Yan / Zhao Danna
Cast: Huang Yao / Sun Yang / Tang Jiawen / Ni Hongjie / Kong Mei Yee
Genre: Drama
Production Country/Region: Chinese Mainland
Language: Mandarin / Cantonese
Runtime: 99 minutes
Bai Xue crafts a coming-of-age fable centred on a teenage girl navigating the border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong — a story of youth, desire, and unstable identity. Peipei travels between the two cities every day, never fully belonging to either. In order to save enough money to see snow in Hokkaido, she accidentally enters the underground world of smartphone smuggling. “Crossing” is originally a slang term used among smugglers for successfully passing through customs, yet it also becomes the emotional threshold Peipei must cross on her own.
Rather than romanticising adolescence as a bright transformation, the film captures the raw volatility, danger, and fragility of youth through cold and restrained imagery. Peipei runs through the night, tests the boundaries between desire and morality, and suddenly falls into the fractures between friendship and betrayal. This is another face of spring: warmth not yet settled, currents quietly stirring beneath the surface. The pain and confusion that cannot be articulated become the unavoidable tremors before life breaks through the soil. As the quartet’s opening movement, The Crossing sets the programme in motion with its youngest and most restless voice.
Film Comment
With this elegantly styled and subtly nuanced art film, Bai Xue emerges as a calm and confident observer, offering keen insights into the lives of China's younger generation.
She captures the emotions within each scene with delicate touches and masterful storytelling. After graduating from film school, she spent a full decade completing this film — and every moment of the wait was well worth it.
— Cath Clarke
Screening Info
This screening event was held at BLOC Cinema from 19:30 to 21:10 on Sunday, May 17, 2026.
The specific screening venue was ArtsOne Building, Queen Mary University of London, 1 Westfield Way, London E1 4PD.
Photos from the screening event
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