EIFF: Paper Marriage

EIFF: Paper Marriage
Love isn’t part of the agreement. But life has other plans.
Some unions are built on love. Others are built on paperwork. And sometimes, even the most transactional arrangements reveal something unexpectedly tender.
In Paper Marriage, a Chinese immigrant facing deportation pins her hopes on a marriage of convenience with an unemployed American drifting through life. What begins as a bureaucratic charade quickly unravels into something far more complicated—and deeply human. Together, Fanny and Jeff navigate clashing cultures, quiet tensions, and reluctant moments of grace as they try to outlast the system and one another.
With understated charm and emotional precision, filmmaker Jeff Man—mentored by the Duplass brothers—makes a powerful feature debut. Paper Marriage is a story about survival, identity, and the uncomfortable intimacy of forced proximity. It’s also a reminder that sometimes the most fragile connections can carry the greatest weight.