The Earthen Circle

Ken is an American-born Chinese man plagued by deep insecurity about his "broken" cultural identity and inability to speak his ancestral dialect. He visits his grandmother, Popo, in a remote Fujian *Tulou* (roundhouse), only to discover that the tight-knit clan he desperately wants to impress is actually a singular, shapeshifting hive mind that absorbs outsiders. Deep in the mist-shrouded valleys of Fujian, Ken sits at a reunion dinner where he feels like a fraud—a foreigner in his own bloodline. But as the night deepens within the claustrophobic walls of the ancient roundhouse, Ken realizes his alienation is the only thing keeping him human. His family doesn't just want him to fit in; they want to consume him.