When 23-year-old Ela Caruzzi walks through Beijing Film Academy's campus this December, she's living two dreams at once: hers and her father's. 🌏 The Croatian student's cross-continental journey began decades before her birth – her father once studied in China but had to abandon his film career dreams here in the 1980s.
📽️ 'China chose me twice,' Ela tells NewspaperAmigo.com. First through her father's stories of Beijing's hutongs, then through her own 2023 arrival in Kunming. While other teens dreamed of Paris or New York, she mastered Mandarin through what she calls 'the kindness of strangers' in Yunnan Province.
This year brought her full circle. As a film student, she experienced something magical during 2025's Spring Festival: 'My teacher's family in Dali treated me like their own daughter. We made dumplings, danced, and they gave me hongbao – I cried realizing I'd found my second home.'
From Zagreb classrooms to China's countryside, Ela's story shows how cultural bonds can span generations. As she prepares her graduation film about her father's journey, one thing's clear – this time, the Chinese dream stays fulfilled. ✨
