Shun Li and the Poet

Shun Li works in a textile factory near Rome, slowly paying off the broker that brought her from China to Italy, while saving money so she can bring her young son to join her. She is suddenly transferred to work as a bartender at a pub in a small town along the Venetian Lagoon. The pub is the hangout of the local fishermen, including Bepi, a handsome old Slav immigrant nicknamed "The Poet." A tender, delicate friendship grows between Shun Li and Bepi. But gossip soon threatens their innocent relationship, a bond that had once transcended two very different, yet not at all distant cultures.

YEAR 3 | FILM 11
Italy | 2011 | Drama | Italian, Mandarin

Winner - Best First Feature - BFI London Film Festival

Official Selection - Venice Film Festival

"Truly poetic and poignant...[Shun Li and the Poet] magnificently captures this world of traditional fishing and the Venice waters beyond."
- Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International

"A gem! Splendid photography...a first class cast [and] a brilliant script."
- Sight and Sound