
A Young Tough
WANG Pengwei • 2021
In the summer of 2001, a boy infatuated with blowing up beetles navigates the cracks of his parents’ violently disintegrating marriage while attempting to acquire a newly released Gameboy, even at the cost of a new found friendship with the mysterious girl who lives above him…
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
2021 HiShorts! Film Festival, China2021 Flickers‘ Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA2021 CINEQUEST Film & VR Festival, USA2021 Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival, Germany2021 Cleveland International Film Festival, USA
CAST & CREW
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

WANG Pengwei
Director
This film is meant to be a dream of a memory, told from the point of view of a little boy, whose life is fragmented, jagged, intimidating, but also beautiful. I believe the feeling of being lost and adrift is a universal condition, even for those that may have never stepped foot outside of their home town - simply experienced and expressed in different ways. A Young Tough tackles this blurry feeling of being adrift in time and space, while clinging to the soft fabric of reality to stay close to the people around you; to try desperately to connect with the people around you, despite all the barriers, conflicts, and obstructions. This film attempts to shatter the concept of nationality and boarders, to recreate that feeling of tackling waves and drifting endlessly which has permeated my life. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.