2025-06-17

AI, legacy, and loss drive filmmaker’s Golden Goblet Award contender

Young Chinese filmmaker Qiu Sheng's "My Father's Son" is an eye-catching sci-fi nominee in the Golden Goblet Awards Main Competition section at the ongoing 27th Shanghai International Film Festival.

The film marks Qiu's return to the festival four years after his work "Double Helix," a short contemplation on the future of AI, won the Golden Goblet Award for best live action short film.

Prior to "My Father's Son," Qiu's debut feature film "Suburban Birds" was also selected into the Filmmakers of the Present Competition at Locarno Film Festival.

Starring Song Yang, Sun Ning and Tong Chenjie, "My Father's Son," which weaves in elements of science fiction, family relationships and sports, centers on a son who grapples with his father's legacy through memories and an AI boxing model.

The script integrates aspects of Qiu's personal growth experiences. He admitted that the motivation behind the creation came from a personal regret. When he was 15 years old, his father passed away and his mind went blank when he was reading the eulogy at the funeral.

"I felt it was time to re-examine my relationship with my father and write a new eulogy for him," Qiu said.

He believes that "death is a heavy topic, while science fiction leads us upwards and to lighter places." With his film, he wanted to reconcile the issue of death with sci-fi elements.

A highlight of the film is the portrayal of the image of an "AI boxer" and the exploration of the impact of AI technology on interpersonal relationships.

Regarding artificial intelligence, actress Tong Chenjie said she believed that AI should serve and help people, rather than replace any of our survival methods and skills.

In the future, Qiu is also considering making another sci-fi film, tackling topics like brain-computer interface and the idol economy.