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2022

Ceremonies / Closing

I Am What I Am

Haipeng Sun

China, 2021, 99', Swiss Premiere

Three teenagers set out to learn the lion dance. The painful initiation will lead them to achieve epiphany. A splendid film that stirs the heart and delights the eye.

To stand up to the bullies tormenting them, three young kids from the countryside take up lion dancing, but the learning curve is much steeper than initially thought. By outdoing themselves, they will reach an epiphany. Both extremely realistic and powerfully cathartic, I Am What I Am pits its endearing characters against the challenges of a spectacular tradition, and pushes them to transcend their quest for identity with an intensity rarely experienced at the movies.