So Rock!
TITLE
So Rock!
DIRECTOR
Fangbai Liu
COUNTRY
China
YEAR
2025
DURATION
17′
GENRE
Live action
So Rock!
In a decaying industrial town in Northern China, a 13-year-old boy trapped between bullying and a disgraced father discovers rock music — and, through its noise and defiance, finds a way to break free from silence.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Fangbai Liu
Fangbai Liu is a Chinese filmmaker and director whose work explores intimate stories of adolescence, identity, family, and the social realities shaping young people’s lives. With a sensitive and character-driven approach, Liu focuses on individuals caught between personal aspirations and the pressures of their surrounding environments. Liu’s short film So Rock! (2025) is set in a declining industrial town in Northern China and follows a 13-year-old boy struggling with bullying and the shadow of his disgraced father. Through his discovery of rock music, the boy finds a form of expression and resistance, gradually discovering a way to confront the silence and limitations surrounding him. So Rock! demonstrates Liu’s interest in coming-of-age stories and in portraying the emotional lives of young characters against the backdrop of changing communities and social circumstances. The film combines a grounded sense of place with a youthful energy, using music not simply as a narrative element but as a means of self-expression and liberation. In 2026, So Rock! was selected for the Palm Springs International ShortFest, where it had its World Premiere. The film was also selected for the international competition of the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. With So Rock!, Fangbai Liu presents a coming-of-age story that reflects on isolation, family expectations, resilience, and the search for an individual voice, marking the filmmaker as an emerging voice in contemporary Chinese short cinema.
- DirectorFangbai Liu
- Screenplay
- Cinematography
- Cast
- Editing
- Producer/s Zihan Tang
- Production Company
- Distributor/sInwave Films Sales Agent France All Rights
- Project TitleSo Rock!
- Project Type Live action
- Completion Date01 June 2026
- Country of originChina
- Country of filmingChina
- LanguageMandarin Chinese
- First-time Filmmaker No
- Student ProjectNo
Fangbai Liu
Fangbai Liu is a Chinese filmmaker and director whose work explores intimate stories of adolescence, identity, family, and the social realities shaping young people’s lives. With a sensitive and character-driven approach, Liu focuses on individuals caught between personal aspirations and the pressures of their surrounding environments. Liu’s short film So Rock! (2025) is set in a declining industrial town in Northern China and follows a 13-year-old boy struggling with bullying and the shadow of his disgraced father. Through his discovery of rock music, the boy finds a form of expression and resistance, gradually discovering a way to confront the silence and limitations surrounding him. So Rock! demonstrates Liu’s interest in coming-of-age stories and in portraying the emotional lives of young characters against the backdrop of changing communities and social circumstances. The film combines a grounded sense of place with a youthful energy, using music not simply as a narrative element but as a means of self-expression and liberation. In 2026, So Rock! was selected for the Palm Springs International ShortFest, where it had its World Premiere. The film was also selected for the international competition of the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. With So Rock!, Fangbai Liu presents a coming-of-age story that reflects on isolation, family expectations, resilience, and the search for an individual voice, marking the filmmaker as an emerging voice in contemporary Chinese short cinema.
