THE COIN / 硬币
A Film by Siqi Song
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
THE COIN is a film about tradition, family, immigration, and most importantly, about finding ourselves. The story starts with a New Year tradition from Northern China, where I was born and raised. On New Year’s Eve, families would gather in the kitchen and make dumplings together. In a few of the dumplings, we would hide coins in. At the family dinner, whoever eats the dumplings with the coin in will have a blessed year ahead. The coin in here is simply a leap of faith, a little bit of optimism packaged inside a dumpling. But as I grew up and immigrated to different cities and countries, I find I have to constantly change myself to fit in the new environment. For anyone who has experience of moving from one place to another, would have experienced some sort of identity crisis, the feeling of lost and misplaced. But at the end of the day, I find out our past is an essential part of who we are and that’s what makes us special. Finding faith within ourselves is more important than looking for validation from others.
AWARDS
Best International Animation Short Film - Chilemonos International Animation Festival, Chile
Jury Award for Best Short Animation - New Hampshire Film Festival, US
Best Experimental Film - FIRST International Film Festival, China
Best Animation Short Film - Chinese Young Generation Film Forum, China
Prize for Asia Road - Korea Independent Animation Film Festival, Korea
Runner Up - AT&T Film Awards, US
CREDIT
written, designed & directed by SIQI SONG
cinematographer BONGANI MLAMBO
music by ALEXIS GRAPSAS
voice by ANNA PAN
costume design by Qing Wang
animation by BOB BLEVINS, IAN BOONE, MOLLY MCCANDLESS, RICH ZIM
produced by DIANA WARD & ASHIM AHUJA
executive producers VALERIE CASTILLO MARTINEZ & FRANCISCO VELASQUEZ
executive producer KIMBERLY HAN
FiLM iNDEPENDENT PROJECT iNVOLVE present
CONTACT
Sale/Distribution - Francisco Velasquez
fvelasquez@filmindependent.org
Festival submission/screening - Diana Ward
dhward@gmail.com