Water Under the Bridge
Director:Yichuan Zhang
Screenwriter:Yichuan Zhang
Cast:Yichuan Zhang, Janaé Hu
Producer:Stella Li
Cinematographer:Yichuan Huang
Running Time:16min
Region:China
Year:2023
Language:Mandarin Chineseh
Production Company:—
SYNOPSIS
Two girls, returning to their hometown, Yibin, for different reasons, matched on Tinder. They were each contemplating their next steps: one had just lost her job in Beijing and moved back home, while the other was on vacation after returning from the United States. One of the girls’ question brought their thoughts together: would the world change us, or would we change ourselves? During their date, questions and discussions gradually revealed the issues between them. The river and the passing train illuminated their relationship.
Director Biography
Yichuan Zhang, a former VICE producer and director of short films, documentaries, and music videos, is rich in music resources. The team behind her debut short film Water Under the Bridge include Stella Li, selected as a producer at the 2022 FIRST Surprise Film Festival, Yichuan Huang, nominated for cinematography at SIFF for the feature film Gone with the Boat; and the script supervisor Linfeng Wu, nominated director at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Director's Statement
My hometown, Yibin City, in Sichuan Province, China, is quite a magical place. The turquoise Minjiang River and the muddy Jinsha River converge in Yibin to form the Yangtze River. The Nezha Palace, which is said to have been built after Nezha’s dream, stands tall on a high mountain. “Water” and “bridge” are symbols there. When I returned to Yibin during the Chinese New Year in 2023, I discovered many interesting scenes through meticulous exploration that I had never experienced before. As a girl, I wrote from a girl’s perspective, depicting conversations among girls and exploring relationships among girls. I also portrayed the role of the black-haired girl. The same level of creativity put into the visuals was also put into the music production, with all the music and sound design being original. When I decided to use a location where a train passes by as one of the scenes, I chose to experiment with the jazz music composition using saxophone combined with the sounds of train whistles and rumbling noises. I found Danni Ye, who is an excellent domestic music producer, for the sound design and the original music production of the entire film




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