New York City delivery driver Lu Jia Cheng (Chang Chen) is in big trouble: His wife and young daughter are due to arrive from China, and he’s just been swindled out of the $3000 he needs for their new apartment. It’s a race against time to raise funds, and nothing is going Lu’s way — from thieves and pawnbrokers to the dangers of the road, things just keep getting worse…
Lucky Lu, a story of poverty and moral compromises, recalls the neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves (1948), but this is very much an original vision. Director Lloyd Lee Choi conjures a world full of ethnic and regional specificity, and his use of suspense is laudable — even the film’s quiet moments are shot through with tension. This gripping, deeply humane film inhabits the places many people detour around: the back alleys, hidden gambling spots, and dangerous streets where money is scarce but the stakes are high.
Supported by
Chang Chen, Fala Chen, Carabelle Manna Wei
USA/Canada
2025
In Mandarin and English with English subtitles
At SFU Woodwards
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Forest Whitaker, Kevin M. Lin, Michael Y. Chow, Jason A. Lin, Bing Chen, Maggie Hsu, Nicole Tao, Clara Wu Tsai, Jamie Lin, Daphne Lee, Peng Zhao, Jennifer J. Pritzker, Van Ness Wu, Steve D. Yang, Dajun Yang, Yifan Zhai
Producer
Destin Daniel Cretton, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Asher Goldstein, Tony Yang, Ron Najor, Jeyun Munford
Screenwriter
Lloyd Lee Choi
Cinematography
Norm Li
Editor
Brendan Mills
Production Design
Evaline Wu Huang
Original Music
Charles Humenry
Lloyd Lee Choi
Lloyd Lee Choi is a Korean-Canadian writer and director based in Brooklyn. He has won numerous awards for his screenwriting and short films, in particular his short Closing Dynasty (2023), which won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale, the Audience Award at SXSW, and the Grand Jury Prize at AFI Fest, among other accreditations. Same Old (2022) premiered in Competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, won a Special Jury Mention at TIFF, and was named Best Short at Raindance; it has recently been adapted into Choi’s feature, Lucky Lu (2025).
Filmography: Same Old (2022); Closing Dynasty (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Jay Kelly
In Noah Baumbach's wise and witty comedy, George Clooney plays Jay Kelly, a world-famous movie star touring Europe with his friend and manager, Ron (Adam Sandler). Faced with nagging dissatisfaction, Jay starts to ask himself some tough questions.
Meadowlarks
Fifty years after being separated during the Sixties Scoop, four Cree siblings reunite for the first time on a long weekend trip to Banff. Tasha Hubbard’s sensitive drama relates an emotional and life-affirming story of kinship and belonging.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? + The Soda Crackers
Join us for a fun afternoon of bluegrass music with the Soda Crackers, followed by a special 25th anniversary screening of the Coen brothers' beloved Homeric comedy, O Brother, Where Art Thou? starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson.
Left-Handed Girl
Co-written and edited by Sean Baker (Anora), Shi-Ching Tsou's heartwarming solo feature debut follows a single mom in Taipei who is too consumed with her noodle stand to keep tabs on her five-year-old daughter's burgeoning shoplifting habit.