''Finding Yingying'' is a 2020 American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film directed and produced by Jiayan "Jenny" Shi about the disappearance of college student Yingying Zhang and her family's search to find her. The film had its world premiere at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival on August 27, 2020. It was released on December 11, 2020, by MTV Documentary Films.

Synopsis

Yingying Zhang, a college student studying in the United States from China, has mysteriously disappeared after getting into a car. Her family arrives from China distraught looking for answers to discover she has been murdered, as they fight for justice and to bring their daughter's remains back home.

Release

The film was initially set to have its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

in March 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The film won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature. Instead, the film had its world premiere at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival on August 27, 2020. In October 2020, MTV Documentary Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It also screened at

DOC NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...

on November 11, 2020. It was released on December 11, 2020.

Reception

Critical reception

''Finding Yingying'' positive reviews from film critics. It holds an approval rating of on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "A compassionate look at a missing person's case, ''Finding Yingying''s touching sincerity will resonate with audiences thanks to its elevated storytelling."

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, finding_yingying 2020 films American documentary films 2020 documentary films Documentary films about crime in the United States MTV Films films 2020s American films