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
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
I Am Not a Witch
Rungano Nyoni's acclaimed debut feature is a visually striking satire about a 9-year-old orphan accused of witchcraft in contemporary Zambia. Screening in the latest African Cinema Now! series, The Witch at the Edge of the Screen.
Akashi
In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring