It felt like a striking coincidence that I had just watched 'The Thai Interpreter' last week, a movie about the struggles of Thai immigrants in the United States with its justice system. With 'Dear You' (2026), the filmmakers tackle something smaller but just as universal: a long-distance love between a man in Thailand and a woman in China, divided by 3,000 kilometres of sea and land. Set around the 1950s, during the fifth wave of Chinese migration to Thailand, it takes us back to a time when a long-distance parting truly meant you might never see the one you love again.
Spoilers ahead
The core of 'Dear You' lies in 'qiaopi' (侨批), known in the Thai-Chinese community as phoey guan: the letters and money sent by overseas Chinese to their families on the mainland.
