Stranger

Hotel rooms can feel alienating. Through several episodes told in a single long take in different hotel rooms, Stranger takes an unflinching look at the many different lives of the Chinese living today.

A hotel room is never entirely a personal space. It is a place that is ours for a moment. Through seven stories, Stranger explores the alienation of modern Chinese life. Each story unfolds in a single take, offering a meditative exploration on a diversity of Chinese lives. We get to see a maid at work, a wedding party, a police interrogation and an expat in a US motel among others.

Through its look at these different lives, Stranger offers a take on existence in a society of rapid change and absurd contradictions. Some need to put on a performance to achieve their goals, while others reveal their deepest thoughts. This is portrayed with both humor and melancholy. 

«Stranger is often strongest when it’s being coy, quietly bringing us into the fold and leaving room for interpretation.»

– Robert Daniels, Roger Ebert –

Kristoffer Holen

Director

Zhengfan Yang has a law degree, and runs the production company Burn the Film with Shengze Zhu. Yang has made four feature-length films – Distant (2013), Where Are You Going (2016), Down There (2018), Footnote (2022) – and several shorts.

This film is part of