A river makes a city alive and brings culture — so is Yangtze river to Wuhan and Spree to Berlin. A film by Tian Gao and De Santis.

China’s grand-scale cities are a binary opposition of its quiet, unexplored countryside. Rural space in China is built on the foundation of NEED, while urban space is built on the foundation of WANT. It is this very juxtaposition that proved beneficial during the COVID crisis, as rural China remained unaffected by food and water shortages. Exploring this central theme, Lin Xi, a local Sichuanese walks to her family farm in North-West Sichuan Province, trailing through the quintessential countryside. On her way, she interacts with locals and foreigners, reflecting on not just structural, but also lifestyle differences between urban and rural spaces.
About the filmmaker
About the protagonist