Big Little Things (2026)

Interesting facts

Big Little Things is a 2026 drama film written and directed by Michelle Zhou, and expanded from Zhou's previous short film of the same name. A co-production of Hong Kong and the United States, it was inspired by Zhou and co-producer Chun Yu's coming out to their parents, and the subsequent family conflict, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Production

The story originated from the personal experiences of producers Zhou and Yu. They began dating in 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic; Zhou visited Yu's family during the New Year in Harbin, China, and though Yu told her parents that Zhou was simply a friend, her father realized that they were romantic partners, causing "deep family chaos". The family eventually reconciled with the two.

Zhou first shot the story as a short film in 2023. In expanding it to a feature-length film, Zhou added a fictional subplot where the protagonist hires a person to play a fake boyfriend in an attempt to appease her family, referencing lavender marriages common in the country's LGBTQ+ community. Yu's real-life father, Hai, was cast to play the father in the film, having previously appeared as her father in the original short.

Hark Xu, the film's cinematographer, shot the film on an Arri Alexa Mini using Zeiss Super Speed prime lenses. Most of the scenes were shot handheld and on location in Harbin, where temperatures reached as low as –30 degrees Celsius.

Big Little Things was a selection of the 2025 Golden Horse Film Festival's Film Project Promotion, where it received the Activator Market Potential Award.

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