A Hostel in a Small Village

Pitch

Ah Geng returns to his home village to establish an art hostel called Mountain Beyond Mountain. Through his interactions with the villagers, his family, and visiting artists, he attempts to build a utopia, supported by his former classmate, Shumi, who manages the hostel. Guests arrive with diverse concerns: Qin Nan, a poet obsessed with writing a suicide note; Zhang Xuan, a professor eager to discover a mysterious plant; Liao Hong, a screenwriter seeking to heal from heartbreak; Su Mu, a planner banking on his next big project; and finally, a "ghost guest" who pays for his room without ever showing up. Each tries to find a new place in this small village. A Hostel in the Small Village explores the links between modernity and tradition through Ah Geng's return to his home village, which he dreams of revitalizing through art and culture. Between authentic rural scenes and flights of imagination, the film questions the place of the contemporary individual in relation to the legacy of traditions.