‘Always’ Review: Deming Chen’s Strikingly Confident Debut Plays Like a Long Visual Poem
The Chinese director's attractive slow-cinema portrait should establish him as a new and exciting voice in nonfiction filmmaking.
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Countries
U.S.A, France,China,Taiwan | 87' | 03/2025 | Documentary
Awards
Dox:Award Winner
World Premier
CPH:DOX 2025
Crew
Crew
Festivals
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CPH:DOX (Denmark) – DOX:Award Winner
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Jeonju International Film Festival (South Korea) – Best Picture Award
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DocsBarcelona (Spain) – Best Editing Award
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Camden International Film Festival (USA) – Harrell Award for Best Documentary Feature
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Tirana International Film Festival (Albania) – Special Jury Award
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Inconvenient Films (Lithuania) – Special Mention, Discovery Competition Jury Award
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BFI London Film Festival (UK) – Special Mention for the Grierson Award
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El Gouna Film Festival (Egypt) – FIPRESCI Award / NETPAC Award / Best Documentary Award
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Golden Horse Film Festival (Taiwan) – Nominee for Best Documentary Film
Asian Pacific Screen Awards (Australia) – Special Mention for Best Documentary Film
Synopsis
Gong Youbin was born into a poor Chinese family. He has not seen his mother since he was three months old. Because of a poetry class in school, he embarks on an emotional journey by learning to write poems through his imagination and exploration. By observing his upbringing in the countryside of Hunan, surrounded by dreams and the harsh realities of his family’s struggles, ALWAYS is an allegory for the loss of innocence, as Gong inevitably has to grow up out of childhood and face reality.
a film by
Deming Chen
produced by
Hansen Lin