The Last Summer (Renfei Shi) China |

The Last Summer
Renfei Shi
China. 2025. 90 min

Days before China’s life-defining College Entrance Exams, top student Li Zhizhi’s world fractures when she sees her father with a pregnant woman. In shock, she accidentally knocks an ashtray off the balcony, striking a five-year-old girl playing downstairs.
Caught between the victim’s grieving family and her parents’ crushing expectations, Zhizhi buries her guilt—along with her anger at what she believes is her father’s betrayal. But the truth cuts deeper.

RENFEI SHI

RENFEI SHI is an independent film writer and director, graduated from the University of Bristol and the Shanghai Film Academy.
Currently, her ‘Female Tetralogy’ film projects are underway.

Filmography
The Last Summer, Feature, 2025
Long, Long Spring Days, Short Fiction, 2022

DIRECTOR´S NOTE

An extreme and unforeseen accident plunges the protagonist and their family into a profound moral dilemma. The film does not present a conventional villain; instead, a seemingly harmless “white lie” triggers a chain reaction that gradually dismantles the family’s harmony.
This tragedy is not merely the collapse of individual destinies—it also exposes a systemic issue: how a singular value judgment, catalyzed by the extreme educational model of College Entrance Exams, gradually erodes the capacity for diverse emotions and individual dignity, ultimately leading to the alienation of humanity.

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