From Dawn to Dawn

When we were kids, we watched the gangster films from Hong Kong’s golden era together. When we grew up, my older brother became a gangster. I became a filmmaker (Xisi Sofia Ye Chen). A rare and deeply intimate immersion into a world often reduced to clichés – and more frequently explored through fiction than documentary – From Dawn to Dawn follows the daily life of the filmmaker’s brother, A Wen, a Chinese gangster living in Spain, within a unique mafia where depression and insomnia are openly discussed, and where Feng Shui masters are consulted to rethink the energies of spaces. Both sister and filmmaker, the director adopts a delicate position, balancing proximity and distance, which lends an almost Taoist tone to the narrative. Without judgement or fascination, she observes a man caught between a criminal legacy, loyalty, family responsibilities and the search for new moral bearings. From this patient attentiveness emerges a deeply personal perspective – a compelling cinematic statement. 

Émilie Bujès

From Dawn to Dawn, 2026
Xiao Qiang Had a Daydream, 2019