Zhang's prodigious talent was in ready evidence in his Shower and Quitting in 1999 and 2001. His vibrant but studied directorial hand shapes this tale of a child raised in the Cultural Revolution's rebellious lawlessness and in the shadow of his father's need to affirm his power - deprived by political imperatives - within his own family. Their story comes to life in a vivid depiction that doesn't neglect the details of that turbulent time or its impact on people's psyches.

It is 1976 and the death of Chairman Mao has brought an end to the tyranny of the Gang of Four. The painter Gengnian (Sun Haiying) has spent years in a labour camp where his hands were permanently damaged. He returns home to his beloved wife Xiuqing (Joan Chen) and to his nine-year-old son Xiangyang (Zhang Fan), who, besides not recognizing him, is also deeply disturbed by the imposition of this new presence in his life. Refusing to acknowledge his clearly burgeoning talent in painting, Xiangyang lets a firecracker blow up in his hand - a desperate attempt to mirror his father's injury and shatter Gengnian's dreams for his son's artistic career.

Decades go by in a whirlwind of events that produce a new China oblivious to its past and traditions. Ironically, Xiangyang has become a renowned painter yet still has a difficult relationship with his father.

Mature and luminous, Sunflower weaves subtle psychological insight into a rich narrative texture. Destined to lodge in the viewer's memory as a brilliantly focused family snapshot, the film glows with an interior light that seems to settle like a sunbeam - shining with particles of memory - over visions of a China forever lost in the frenzy of modernization.