Thus They Spoke  (Special Screening)

Thus They Spoke (Special Screening)

Yash Zhang • 2022

Duration: 00:14:14
Language: Mandarin, Sichuan Dialect
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Country/Region: Mainland China, USA

Documentary director Manni revisits her old lover in Chengdu. The lover's disappearance and a young man's appearance make this visit intricate. When she turns off her camera, how would they face each other towards their intertwined past? In the hopeless night, they share pains and joys together.

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

2022 Indie Memphis Film Festival, United States 2022 Mǎo International Film Week, China

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Yash Zhang

Yash Zhang

Director

The idea of this docu-narrative short was originated from my own depression experience of being stuck in Kathmandu(Nepal) in 2020 during the pandemic. I was stuck in a garret room for five months. I felt depressed, anxious, and detached from the outside world.When I returned to China, I was trying to make this film to explore the deeper level of emotional pains . I interviewed dozens of people who was diagnosed as depression or ADHD. This short talks about the complexity of our existence and traumas, with a narrowed scope on the connection and gaze between self and the other. This film chooses the form of documentary-drama and improvisation, to explore the “truth” within the film camera. After a whole year’s effort and thanks to our doners, the film finally was rendered in the end of 2021.