Synopsis

At the beginning of May 2019, I was in Beijing editing a short film, In the Mountains, for director Ju Anqi, an important project for a famous Chinese art museum, the Zhi Art Museum. During the editing period, Ju and I repeatedly revised the film for a whole month, exhausting me. My second aunt, the only one in my family who supported me in my film work, was dying of liver cancer and wanted to see me one last time.

I rushed home from Beijing to Jiangsu on the same day as handing over the film. The moment I stepped into my home, I was devastated to find that my mother had suddenly fallen seriously ill and was lying in bed, unable to move. A sudden double blow that pushed me to hell!

On her deathbed, my second aunt grabbed me by the hand and asked me to do two things: one, to keep up my artistic career, and two, to take my mother to Beijing to see a doctor.

It was against this backdrop that this film began. After the funeral, I took my very sick mother to Beijing. It was the first time my mother had come to Beijing, and she was very worried when she saw my real-life situation. Throughout the shooting of the film, with great sorrow and remorse, I tried to tell my mother that marriage in the city, family and the complex, fickle society, are inextricably linked, and that it is no longer as simple as making a rural marriage to get by. My mother was in so much physical pain that I swallowed my words and took them back.

Whenever I watch In the Mountains, with its rushing water, surrounded by mountains and a lone boat coming from afar, it brings tears to my eyes and reminds me of my second aunt who passed away, and this plight that has nowhere to go!