Berlin-Bound Chinese Feature ‘Shanghai Daughter’ Unveils First Trailer

Variety is unveiling the first trailer for “Shanghai Daughter,” the debut feature from Chinese filmmaker Agnis Shen Zhongmin that will world premiere in the Panorama part of the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival.

The drama follows Ming, a Shanghai lady who travels alone to a rubber tree plantation in Xishuangbanna, alongside China’s southwestern border, trying to find people who knew her late father during the Cultural Revolution’s Down to the Countryside Movement half a century earlier. As the previous manufacturing team home faces demolition and mining firms and trendy agricultural tasks remodel the land that as soon as held rubber plantations, Ming encounters a farm officer, rural doctor, Dai elder, rubber tapper, younger ecologist and a mysterious lady with a particular connection to her.

The movie attracts from Shen Zhongmin’s private experiences. “The seed of this film was sown 14 years ago, when my father had just passed away from illness,” the director explains in her assertion. “His death and absence drove me to embark on a journey alone to the remote tropical land.”

Repeated visits over the years fostered a deep bond with the area and its people. “Rooted in my family history, this film expands its thematic scope to an exploration of ecofeminism as well as the pivotal chapters of China’s social history,” Shen Zhongmin says. “And for me, it is also an experiment to explore a non-dual realm that blurs the lines between fiction and documentary, and between the private and the public, through a simple and meditative cinematic language.”

The manufacturing options non-actors and real-life people alongside lead actress Liang Cuishan, who beforehand appeared in “Cloud in Her Room,” which gained the Golden Tiger Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam, and “Till Love Do Us Part,” which screened at Pingyao International Film Festival.

“Beyond the non-actors/real-life individuals and the female lead, the landscapes, flora, and fauna of southwest China are also portrayed as silent characters in their own right,” Shen Zhongmin provides. “I hope this film can immerse the audience in a tangible geographical space, inviting them to walk, observe, listen, and feel alongside the characters.”

Shen Zhongmin is also a author and creator of brief story collections including “Notes on Shanghai Geography,” “Deep Simulator” and “A Traveler’s Desire.” She graduated from Tongji University with a level in movie directing and screenwriting, and beforehand labored as a journalist and newspaper editor before shifting into cross-disciplinary apply in up to date artwork, literature and movie.

Producers are Xu Ruijing and Liao Yong for Twelve Oaks. Cinematographer is Pu Wei, with sound supervision by Dukar Tserang. The project was beforehand chosen for the work-in-progress part of SIFF Project at the 2025 Shanghai International Film Festival.

Parallax Films is dealing with worldwide sales. The movie is shot in Mandarin Chinese and Dai dialect.

Watch the trailer right here: