Watch Finding Yingying

"Finding Yingying" is a gripping, heart-wrenching documentary film directed and produced by Jiayan "Jenny" Shi. This movie tells the devastating true story of Yingying Zhang, a twenty-six-year-old Chinese student who disappeared in June 2017 while studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The film follows the search for Yingying, the impact on her family and friends, and the difficult process of seeking justice for her after a suspect is arrested.

The story starts by introducing Yingying's cheerful and vibrant personality, her background in China, and her dreams of pursuing a PhD and embarking on a career in academia. Early on, we sense the pain of her family, who were helpless when they learned about her disappearance from thousands of miles away. The director uses a combination of animation, interviews, and video diaries, to give audiences a sense of who Yingying was and what she meant to her family. We also see the growing sense of urgency among her friends, who launch a social media campaign to generate leads and share information about her disappearance.

The documentary then moves on to the official search efforts, which were extensive and involved multiple law enforcement agencies. It shows us how the Chinese community rallied around Yingying's family and supported them, both emotionally and in practical ways, by providing food and translation services. We also get a glimpse into the investigation and the efforts of the FBI and local police to track down leads, including surveillance footage of the suspect's car, which leads to his arrest.

What follows is the most emotional segment of the film, which centers around Yingying's family's arrival in Illinois and their experiences as they grapple with the enormity of their loss. The depictions of her mother's and father's struggles to come to terms with Yingying's death and their determination to get justice for her are particularly poignant. The film shows us how her family contended with a language barrier while navigating the US justice system and how the process was at times slow and frustrating, with many delays and false hopes.

Throughout the movie, the director moves back and forth between three main threads. One of these is the story of Yingying's life, including her accomplishments and aspirations. The second is the desperate search for her by her friends and family, and the third is the legal case that plays out after the suspect's arrest. The result is a moving and captivating chronicle of one family's struggle to make sense of a senseless tragedy, to navigate a foreign country's bureaucracy and laws, and to keep their daughter's memory alive.

The film does an excellent job of immersing the audience in the search for Yingying and the various emotions that experienced by those involved, in particular, her family. The use of vivid photos and videos, as well as interviews with her family and friends, ensures that we feel a deep connection with the people involved in the story. There is no doubt that "Finding Yingying" is an emotional and powerful film, one that provides a powerful window into how one family deals with a heartbreaking tragedy.

In summary, "Finding Yingying" is an engaging and enlightening documentary that is a must-watch. It is an emotionally charged film that touches on major themes such as family, tragedy, justice, and the power of community, all presented in a way that is both informative and relatable. This film reminds us that behind every news headline, there is a powerful human story of lives and dreams and the emotional connections to those we love. I would highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in true crime or human-interest stories.

Finding Yingying is a 2020 documentary. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.2 and a MetaScore of 69.