THE COIN is an animated short film written and directed by Siqi Song. In Chinese New Year holidays, finding the coin inside the dumplings means having a blessed year ahead. A young woman loses a jar on her journey to a new country, which contains the lucky coins she has been collecting growing up. Her new life begins with a search to find the coin.

THE COIN is a film about tradition, family, immigration, and most importantly, about finding ourselves. The story starts with a New Year tradition from Northern China, where I was born and raised. On New Year’s Eve, families would gather in the kitchen and make dumplings together. In a few of the dumplings, we would hide coins in. At the family dinner, whoever eats the dumplings with the coin in will have a blessed year ahead. The coin in here is simply a leap of faith, a little bit of optimism packaged inside a dumpling. But as I grew up and immigrated to different cities and countries, I find I have to constantly change myself to fit in the new environment. For anyone who has experience of moving from one place to another, would have experienced some sort of identity crisis, the feeling of lost and misplaced. But at the end of the day, I find out our past is an essential part of who we are and that’s what makes us special. Finding faith within ourselves is more important than looking for validation from others. 

- Director’s Note