Ma Xiang, a 14 year-old in Western China, does what hundreds of thousands of other ethnic Huis end up doing to support their family: he opens a noodle shop. NOODLE KID takes us on Ma's journey through his apprenticeship, stretching and pulling noodle-dough hundreds of times a day at his uncle's far-flung noodle dive. But Ma also dreams of being an imam, and at the heart of NOODLE KID is a compelling examination of religious life among the besieged Muslim Chinese minority.
—Ryan Wu