Title: Wish You Well
Runtime: 26 min
Country: China
Director: Nadia Guo
Placement: Award of Merit
Competition: September, 2024

Synopsis: The Boy and the Girl were in love. They led a plain yet loving life, sharing profound resonance with each other. The Girl loved the sea and they made a deal to travel to the sea someday. However, a sudden illness took the Girl’s life. Before the Girl died, she had told the boy that the shadows of the two who are in love will move for one another, even when they are not physically together; and one’s longing for the loved one would send one’s shadow to the other.

After the Girl was gone, the Boy was overwhelmed with longing and sadness. When brushing his teeth, he hears the juicer play a sad love song. When having breakfast, he sees the Girl crying silently in the clouds. When passing by a lake, he sees the Girl smiling in the water; As he lays in bed, he remembers what the Girl had told him before she left. He remembers that the Girl liked to have him scratch her back while they were in bed, so he scratches his back as well on the countless sleepless nights.

The Boy went to the hospital for the scratches on his back. And the Doctor developed a special affection for the Boy, hoping to get closer to him. But the Boy, after losing the Girl, was already dead inside. That night, the Doctor had a long phone call with the Boy, where they told the stories of their lost loved ones, shared the haunting sadness, and mourned the losses in silence.

This night, as the moonlight shines on the Boy’s face, the Girl turns into a bird and flies over to the Boy. At that moment, the shadow of longings cast on the wall. It turns out that some lost ones are never really gone, as the love is always there.