"Honouring the request of his 90-year-old mother, who's unable to make the journey herself, Cheng reconnects with her friends, sketches the often unrecognisable cityscape around him, and visits the 816 Nuclear Military Plant - once a secret Cold War facility where thousands toiled and at least 100 workers died, now a tourist attraction - where he comments that 'beneath the surface of fast development is fast forgetting'."
"In her masterfully constructed short The Other Side of the Mountain, Yumeng He, a Chinese filmmaker based in Berlin, follows her father, Cheng He, as he returns to his childhood home in the Chongqing district of Southwestern China. Yumeng melds personal and national history in her film, with breathtaking cinematography that frames her father navigating the streets of his youth, shaped by the tides of history and time."
Yumeng He, a Chinese filmmaker based in Berlin, follows her father Cheng He as he returns to his childhood home in Chongqing. Honouring his 90-year-old mother's request, Cheng reconnects with friends, sketches the transformed and often unrecognisable cityscape, and visits the 816 Nuclear Military Plant. The 816 site, once a secret Cold War facility where thousands laboured and at least 100 workers died, is now a tourist attraction. Cheng observes that 'beneath the surface of fast development is fast forgetting.' The film melds personal and national history through restrained, breathtaking cinematography that frames a man navigating streets shaped by history and time.
Read at Aeon
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