A STORY ABOUT LONGING
113 WORDS FOR YOU TODAY
Written & Directed by
Bo Qing Tang & Lan Zeng
SYNOPSIS
A team of workers, including Soo, is sent to planet Gliese 12b to build a gravitational portal. To conserve energy for survival on the frozen planet, each worker is allowed to speak only 138 words per day.
Soo chooses his words carefully. When he picks up the phone, he listens but rarely speaks. When a heavy lever bar falls on his foot, a reflexive groan makes him feel regret because it costs him a word.
A powerful blizzard hits, while evacuating with his companions, Soo chooses to return alone to retrieve a fallen crystal, not wanting to waste words asking for help. This leads him deep into the storm, where he barely survives by taking shelter in a crashed cable car.
After the storm clears and night falls, Soo finally returns to his sleeping pod. The first thing he does is call his wife back on Earth. When the call connects, the exhaustion on his face fades. He smiles and proudly says, “Hi sweetie, I saved 113 words for you today.”
DIRECTOR's STATEMENT
The inspiration for this film came from a quiet, almost invisible moment I once witnessed: a Chinese cook, squatting on the curbside during what must have been a short break from a long shift. He smoked silently, face blank and weary — the kind of expression I’ve come to recognize in many workers living far from home. Then, he made a phone call. Within seconds, his face lit up with joy. He smiled, laughed, and became talkative — suddenly so full of life. It was as if a part of him had been reawakened.
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That moment stayed with me.
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As a Chinese animation director who has lived and worked in the U.S. for over ten years, I carry with me a strong awareness of what it means to exist between worlds — to speak in a second language, to navigate foreign systems, and to live with parts of yourself tucked away, saved for rare and meaningful moments of connection. I see that same quiet restraint in many immigrant workers — not because they lack feeling, but because they’ve learned to protect it.
In this film, I imagined a team of workers sent to a distant frozen planet, where speech is rationed to just 138 words per day. It’s a sci-fi setting, but at its core, it reflects a very human truth: the emotional economy of survival. The main character, Soo, chooses his words carefully. He works in silence, suppresses pain, and avoids asking for help — not because he’s cold or distant, but because he’s saving his words for someone who matters.
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The film is a quiet tribute to those who seem emotionally distant on the surface, but beneath them are entire worlds of tenderness, sacrifice, and love, just waiting for the right moment to be spoken.