A Chinese film shot in the Teochew dialect, with amateur actors and a modest budget, has become one of the cinematic surprises of the year. It premiered in Paris on July 5th. Dear You Lan Hongchun arrives in France in September and deserves to have someone write to him in return.
Released in China during the May Day holiday in 2026, amidst big-budget productions, this nearly 2-hectare feature film grossed over 64 million yuan (approximately €7,7 million). On Douban, China's leading film review site, it received a 9/10 rating, placing it among the highest-rated films of the year. This score is all the more remarkable given that 95% of the film is in a dialect not spoken by the majority of Chinese people.
It all begins with a simple idea: Xiaowei decides one day to retrace the steps of his grandfather, who left to work in Thailand decades earlier and whose existence was only ever revealed through letters and money orders. What the investigation uncovers is not what the family had always believed. Unseen acts of devotion emerge, long-buried memories resurface, and the portrait that emerges is one of lives shaped by separation, sacrifice, and the weight of time.
Director Lan Hongchun drew inspiration from true stories of families in the Chinese diaspora. Some accounts tell of neighbors who, for decades, wrote letters for those who couldn't write. Others speak of packages sent from abroad: dried meat, bicycles, everyday objects, as tangible proof of love expressed from afar.
At the heart of the film lies a forgotten historical reality: the Qiaopi. From the 19th century until the end of the 20th , these hybrid letters, both family correspondence and financial mandates, allowed Chinese emigrants in Southeast Asia to maintain contact with their loved ones back home. A letter could take months to arrive, passing through many hands before reaching its destination. It carried money, news, and a piece of the identity of the person who had left. This correspondence has been recognized internationally: in 2013, the Qiaopi archives were inscribed by UNESCO on the Memory of the World Register. Dear You pays tribute to them.
The film is set in the Chaoshan region of southern China, celebrating its language, cuisine, Gong Fu tea ceremony, and traditional Yingge dance. Several roles were given to non-professional actors, including Ye Shurou, who plays Ah Ma and whose family herself migrated to Southeast Asia. This personal connection to the story is palpable in certain scenes, conveying a raw emotion that is difficult to feign.
For many young Chinese viewers, accustomed to messaging and instant calls, the feature film acts as a reminder of another era.
On July 5, 2026, the film had its French premiere at the UGC Gobelins cinema in Paris's 13th arrondissement , a neighborhood symbolic of the Asian presence in the capital. The event, jointly organized by the Teochew Association in France and the distributor Trinity CineAsia, brought together nearly 200 guests, including members of the Chinese community in France and local figures.
For many viewers that evening, the film wasn't just telling a story from China: it resonated with their own experiences, with languages passed down in hushed tones, with absences never truly filled. Dear You will be released in French cinemas in early September 2026, with screenings planned at the Écoles Cinéma Club and then at the Christine Cinéma Club.
In this film about letters that travel, there is something that resembles a promise: that some things are worth waiting to be read.
Dear You by Lan Hongchun.
Released in theaters on September 2, 2026
