To emigrate or not to emigrate, that is the question. Goldfish poses this dilemma- -one familiar to many young Chinese today--with a wealth of insightful observation, comic touches and ironic flashbacks that keep the film jaunty and entertaining. Ma Lixin breeds and sells goldfish. He envies their "freedom," but declines to emigrate with his girlfriend, Zhuzhu. A dancer, Zhuzhu has dreamt of little more than going abroad. The two split. A new girlfriend, Haiying--Zhuzhu's former dance school classmate--courts Lixin, and gets him as far as the airport. But the pull of tradition is stronger than risk and the promise of desire and choice. Yet they cannot go home--not all the way, that is. Lixin has left his family with visions of American success. To save face, Lixin and Haiying pretend to be in San Francisco, a charade that becomes increasingly elaborate and impossible. Made without help or support from the Chinese film industry, Goldfish is an independent feature by 26-year-old Wu Di, whose directorial debut shows impressive confidence and control. A Vancouver Film Festival jury awarded Wu Di second place in the Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema (first place went to Maborosi, SFIFF 1996) for his "genuinely independent and personal film . . . an extraordinarily brave statement about life in China today." As Tony Rayns notes, "'freedom' in China really is just another word for nothing left to lose."