Banana Kids

by Cheng Xiao-xing

China, France

Director: Cheng Xiao-xing

Assististant Director : Zhuang Yu Xin, Liu Xiao Yan, Jiang Tao

Sound: Roman Dymny

Production: Les Films d'ici, Line up Film

Contact:
Les Films d’Ici
62 Boulevard Davout
75020 Paris
France
Tel / Fax: 0033 3.44.52.23.23
www.filmsdici.fr

Year: 2007

Beta SP, Colour, 50 min, 
OV Mandarin with French Subtitles

Unreleased

World Premiere

“Banana kids? Yellow outside and white inside”.

They are between 10 and 20 years old, French of Chinese origin who, with hindsight and humour, claim to be “banana kids”. Their parents came to France in the eighties at a time when Chinese immigration widely intensified, and all these adolescents born in France do not speak Chinese. We follow them during their first trip to China where they go to learn Chinese at a language school in Beijing. Their linguistic stay takes place in a state campus called “Root seeking”.

“Through these adolescent torn between two cultures, I wanted to explore the weight of origins, the cultural heritage and identity search. It was a roundabout way to come back to my own adolescence and tackle this difficult question to answer: Am I French or Chinese?" Cheng Xiao-xing