Usingthe Yangtze river as a contemplative metaphor for contemporary China, this black and white journey sets off from the Port of Shanghai on a filmed odyssey of thousands of kilometres to the river’s source in Qinghai/Tibet. APSA Academy member Xu Xin’s epic film passes through Nanjing, Wuhan, the massive Three Gorges Dam, and Chongqing, filming all the way to the upper Yangtze Yibin, then crossing over dry land from Yibin and a dry land crossing to the source. Experimental music and noise recorded live on scene were used in post-production, painstakingly paired to the visuals in post-production, creating an atmosphere of magical realism, contrasting with people who seem to be decorative figures right out of traditional Chinese landscale scrolls, all living alongside a river that no longer seems alive.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
