Blessed with Burdens

Blessed with Burdens

CHEN Ziyan • 2025

Duration: 00:34:29
Language: Hunan Dialect, Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Country/Region: Mainland China

When my cousin gave birth to a girl, my mom and family stood outside the obstetrics and gynecology department and said, "Those who give birth to daughters are blessed." But is childbirth truly a blessing? Behind the blessing and the excitement, how much have mothers sacrificed and compromised in their choices? And as daughters, do we really see everything our mothers have done for us?

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

CHEN Ziyan

CHEN Ziyan

Director

I asked my mother, grandmother, cousin, and aunt, “Was it painful when you gave birth?” Each of them gave a very different answer. The changes in medical standards, societal views, and living conditions over four generations are reflected in their responses. The relationship between mothers and daughters is also vastly different. How do they face the choices they’ve made, and in what way do they choose to relate to their daughters? As a member of this family, I also witnessed the daily interactions in various mother-daughter relationships: between myself and my mother, my mother and my grandmother, my cousin and my aunt.

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