UK Premiere
Children’s Day
Short film Competition 1
Year of Production 2025
Production Countries/Regions Singapore
Duration 20 mins
Genres Drama Family
Dialogue Language(s) English
Subtitle Language(s) English
Director(s) Giselle Lin
Director’s Bio
Giselle Lin Xuan Qing is a Singaporean writer-director, Her works include her undergrad thesis short film Yi Yi(Time Flows in Strange Ways on Sundays) (2021 Locarno Pardi di Domani), and documentary short films I look into the mirror and repeat to myself (2023 Locarno Pardi di Domani) and Things (2024 Kurzfilm Hamburg). Her debut feature project in development, Midnight BlueSpring, won the grand prize of the 2022 Locarno Residency. Giselle is greatly inspired by the impermanence of memory, connections, and nature, and seeks always to tell stories filled with human truth, touch, and taste.
Synopsis
Shy and imaginative eight-year-old Xuan struggles to find the perfect outfit for her school's upcoming Children's Day celebration while adjusting to a turbulent home life and an unlikely new friendship at school
Festivals & Awards
2025 75th Berlin International Film Festival - Berlinale Shorts 2025 Nomination
Scriptwriter(s)
Giselle Lin, Nicolette Lin
Producer(s)
Sam Chua Weishi, Bambby Cheuk, Macarius Chia
Executive Producer(s)
Key Casts
Zezhi Long
Curators’ note
Lipstick, miniskirts, floral shirts... Children's Day of dress-up becomes a delicate layer, wrapping the girl’s nuanced and hidden interiority, while also reflecting the interwoven cruelty, violence, and tenderness of her birth family. Gifts are exchanged, words circulate, and in the mirror the girl looks back at herself again and again. Within these small yet decisive moments, enduring questions of growing up slowly come into view: how do we come to recognise ourselves through the gaze of others? And how do we learn to stay open, even when risk and hurt lie ahead?（Jiayi Zhao, Xiyun Li edited)
Director’s Statement
As a child, I eagerly awaited the annual Children’s Day celebration, the one day we could wear whatever we wanted to school. Growing up in a family of six, with five girls, I often felt invisible. But on Children’s Day, in my special outfit, I could shed my insecurities and become someone else, even if just for a day. As an adult and filmmaker, I reflect on the memories that shape us, especially the cycle of pain passed down from my violent father to my mother, then to us. My film is inspired by a Children’s Day when I was eight, when my best friend and I agreed to match outfits and lip gloss, despite not having either. This film is a love letter to my eight-year-old self, and I hope others find a piece of their own childhood in it.
