The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo is a documentary short film about a teen from China pursuing his academic dreams thousands of miles from home in a desolate Romanian college town. Directed by filmmaker Ilinca Calugareanu — whose debut documentary feature, Chuck Norris vs. Communism, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival — the short tells a heartrending story about a young man looking to expand his worldview amidst the Carpathian Mountains. The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo is available to stream Oct. 6.
A bright and soft-spoken 16-year-old living in China with a passion for Eastern European literature and culture, Yin Yuguo loves to write like his favorite poet Mihai Eminescu and longs to study in Romania. Once accepted into the language arts program at the Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău, Yuguo becomes friends with many of his teachers and people across the city, every one of them enthralled by his intelligence and deep love of their country.
Yuguo’s written words are read via voiceover by actor Haoming Jeff Chen.
