PÖFF 2016: The summer is gone

A western small town in the early 1990s, after primary-secondary examination,Xiaolei had finally graced the summer vacation with long-waited, no homework. However, this hot summer was not as warm red as he imagined, what was more of routine life and time to have leisure. It coincides with state-owned company transformed, the secure job was not safe. By the shock of state-owned enterprises reformation, no any other family could suffer the pressure of living including Xiaolei’s relatives courtyard.The children were free without much enthusiasm all day, the parents were seemingly calm with inner anxiety in the the blazing sunshine. The time passes, Xiaolei was feeling the revolution had taken placed quietly. Until his father had to be a migrant worker to make a living, only the child and mother could be relied on each other. Xiaolei felt the life was completely changed. The night in he beginning of Autumn, Xiaolei’s Epiphyllum in the yard was blooming, as if it was a apocalypse.

"One Sunday a number of years ago, I had lunch at my grandma's home, which I rarely visited. I watched my mother spoon-feeding my grandma who was 80 years old and paralyzed in bed. Suddenly, I felt like a lifetime had passed. Back to the summer of 1994, grandma's mother was paralyzed in bed. Her daughter was holding her back and feeding her the liquid food, just like what was happening in front of me. At that moment, I seemed to hear pop music from the 1980s and the train whistle from far away. The magic of a daydream inspired me to decide to shoot a film." - Dalei Zhang, director