Deep in northwestern China, surrounded by cotton fields and desert, lies the Uyghur village that a young Muslim boy Isa calls home. When he is not at school or working on his parents’ farm, he spends carefree days with his best friend Kalbinur. That is until the outside world begins to force him to say one goodbye after another. His mother has been left deaf and mute by meningitis, and as her illness places an increasing burden on the family, Isa’s father considers putting her in a care home far away from the village. Kalbinur is getting bad grades and is about to be sent to a faraway Chinese school. And then a lamb that the two children had been looking after disappears. As winter closes in on Isa’s world, he learns the meaning of his first farewell.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
