Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal

Amid the forest mist and the echoes of a confusing night,

Xiaofan must confront a truth that could shape her destiny.

Technical Details | Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal

Original title: 逆境 | Ni Jing
Spanish title: Ni Jing: No robarás
English title: Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal
Written and directed by: Roberto F. Canuto, Xu Xiaoxi
Produced by: Luisa Liu Shun
Cinematography: Xu Xiaoxi
Music: Andrea Centazzo
Cast: Sherry Ruihong Xia, Yinhui Wan, Wenfen Zuo, Luisa Shun Liu, Josef Chen Li, Alicia Barbadoux, Ye Kuang
 China, Spain  2013  28’ 35"  color

 Chinese and Southwestern Mandarin
 Spanish, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese

 fiction, drama  mystery, human rights, rural

 DCP · Digital HD · 1.85:1
SYNOPSIS

Xiaofan, a young woman working at a karaoke club in Chengdu, wakes up one morning in a remote forest with her clothes stained with blood and no memory of what happened. Disoriented and vulnerable, she tries to piece together the fragments of a night that seems to have been erased from her mind.

As fragments of her memory begin to return, Xiaofan relives a spiral of fear, betrayal and violence shaped by her relationship with Chen Zhong, an unpredictable and emotionally unstable boyfriend. Confronted with the truth that emerges, she must make a decision that could change her life forever.

COMMENTARY

Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal explores the clash between intimacy, guilt and survival in contemporary China through a psychologically intense story based on real events. The film offers a raw portrayal of power dynamics, emotional fragility and the moral boundaries faced by a young woman trapped between love and fear.

Shot in Sichuan, combining Mandarin and the local dialect, the short film portrays a generation shaped by materialism, family pressure and social hypocrisy. As the first project filmed in China by Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi following their work in the United States, the film inaugurates the Invisible Chengdu trilogy, consolidating their poetic and socially committed cinematic voice.

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