Greece/China | Vassilis Xiros | 2022 | 105 min

When it came time for Vassilis Xiros, a former foreign affairs diplomat, to realize his passion project of an independent film, naturally he made a cross-cultural relationship drama. His debut, the first-ever co-production between Greece and China, is a day-long dialogue picture in the tradition of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise. As in that film, timing is everything: Jinxi (Tu Hua), a student violinist, is about to leave for Vienna, while Panos (Dimitris Mothonaios), a young architect, has just arrived in Shanghai. For at least one day—thanks to the recovery of the teddy bear of the title—the two keep each other company as they think out loud about their ideals, doubts, and cultural presumptions. Xiros, who also wrote the screenplay, is aided by the veteran talent of editor Lambis Haralambidis, who handled Costa-Gavras’s latest film, the Greece-set Adults in the Room. In English.

“A noble effort in the genre.” Yannis Vassiliou, Σινεμά