Shenyang, in deep winter snow. Two promising 12-year-old Beijing opera students, Dong (‘winter’ in Chinese) and Nuannuan (literally meaning ‘warmth’) are practising their stage moves diligently and fervently in order to secure their place in an upcoming performance in the capital. Nuannuan has a crush on Dong but Dong is lost in a daze – of a muted longing for his dead mother and a nameless affection for the girl’s... see more