Milestones (2020)

In the early years of China's opening to the world, my father embarked on a construction aid project in Djibouti, Africa. His long tenure ended with my birth, he christened me with a name meaning "Adoring Africa". 30 years later, my father has returned to this second home as a businessman, and his previous employer is constructing the new Doraleh harbor outside Djibouti City. I sought to capture the nuances of my father's homecoming, as well as the lives of the new overseas Chinese laborers chasing after each "milestone" of construction. As the uncharted life paths of these two generations of Chinese expatriates unfolded in front of me, I began to discover the hidden message in my own name and the story took on an unexpectedly personal dimension.