Between Here and There: Fluid Dwellings

In traditional contexts, a “dwelling” implies settlement and sanctuary. Today, however, as rapid external changes intertwine with profound internal upheavals, a stable place to call home may simply not exist for many. This curation selects eight Chinese-language independent films to observe individuals facing shifts in their environments and existential conditions, exploring how they search for a way to ground themselves within the fluidity of life’s experiences.

When the ground beneath one’s feet is no longer familiar. Both Bing’ai and Springtime in Wushan are set against the backdrop of the Three Gorges Project. The former documents a peasant woman’s steadfast refusal to leave as her ancestral land is about to be submerged; the latter focuses on the desires and daily lives of people in a county town, navigating between the ruins of the old city and the neon lights of the new. Meanwhile, the shepherd in Tharlo finds himself lost and displaced in the rupture where modern civilization clashes with Tibetan tradition, unsure of where to go.

Leaving the origin marks the beginning of a prolonged wandering. Fortune Teller trains its lens on those at the bottom of society, scraping by in the peri-urban fringes. The small-town youth in Guanbu A Week venture out into the wider world, driven by a vague yet palpable yearning. Expanding the scale of time, Golden Gate Girls retraces the transnational, diasporic life of a pioneering Chinese female director.

Places that appear static are often surging with subtle undercurrents. Oxhide compresses the livelihood struggles of a family of three into the cramped confines of a leather goods shop. Old Men keeps its gaze fixed at the base of a wall in a Beijing residential community, where elderly citizens measure time through their daily gatherings and dispersals, warding off the loneliness of their twilight years through mutual companionship.

The present cannot hold, yet the destination remains unreached. “Between Here and There” captures the indefinable, intermediate states of existence. Through these moving images, this film program seeks to witness, within an ever-shifting world, the concrete individuals who—despite having nowhere to ground themselves—never stop striving to survive. In addition, due to copyright or licensing restrictions, several films on this film list are currently unavailable for streaming on CathayPlay, including Tharlo (Pema Tseden, 2015), Oxhide (Jiayin Liu, 2005), and Old men (Lina Yang, 2000).

Non-Streaming Titles

1. Tharlo (Pema Tseden, 2015)

The shepherd in the film finds himself lost and displaced in the rupture where modern civilization clashes with Tibetan tradition, unsure of where to go.

2. Oxhide (Jiayin Liu, 2005)

Compresses the livelihood struggles of a family of three into the cramped confines of a leather goods shop.

3. Old men (Lina Yang, 2000)

Keeps its gaze fixed at the base of a wall in a Beijing residential community, where elderly citizens measure time through their daily gatherings and dispersals, warding off the loneliness of their twilight years through mutual companionship.