A River Stifled 凌汛 | Midnightblurfilms

A River Stifled

凌汛

CHINA | 2023 | Drama | Short | 17min

Director: Jingwei BU

Screenwriter: Jingwei BU

Producer: Xinyi ZHAO

Cinematographer: Cong ZHOU

Editor: Shifei LI

Art Director: Yao XU

Sound: Qi LIU

Starring: Chen ZHANG, Xiaoke YUE, Ximan MA

导演：步京委

编剧：步京委

制片人：赵馨怡

视觉设计：张驰

摄影指导：周聪

剪辑：李是非

美术指导：徐耀

声音：刘琪

主演：张晨、岳骁恪、马溪蔓

Synopsis

In a northeastern small town during early spring, a sudden thaw causes floating ice collisions and water spilling over embankments. Lei Zi, 19 and freshly released from prison, reluctantly heads home with his long-lost father. Over a short afternoon, he realizes his once-familiar life is unraveling, echoing the drifting ice on the river, heading towards chaos.

Festival&Award

Vienna Independent Shorts

- Official Selection

Director's Note

Ice jams flooding is a natural disaster unique to cold regions, where the upstream ice melts while downstream remains frozen. Floating ice collides with the shore, resulting in a flood of ice and water. This displacement serves as a visual metaphor for contemporary interpersonal alienation in my perspective: a depiction of people drowning in self-isolation and indulgence, feeling helpless with the inability to communicate and unattainable intimacy. At the same time, it reflects Lei Zi's situation. Freshly released from prison, Lei Zi recklessly re-enters this unfamiliar world, pushing and colliding like floating ice in solidifying social relationships and numbing reality. Eventually, he strands ashore, forced to melt back to water and be disciplined into a stream.

Jingwei BU

Jingwei BU is a Chinese writer-director and screenwriter. He earned his master's degree in film production from the ArtCenter College of Design (USA) and got his bachelor's degree in theatre performance at Tongji University. With a dual background in theatre and cinema, he actively explores the boundaries of artistic integration. He advocates for the social impact of visual storytelling and firmly believes that the essence of capturing the eternal in filmmaking lies in the crystallization of fleeting emotional moments.

The feature film he wrote *Home Coming* (2022) earned a nomination for Best Screenplay at the 18th China Changchun Film Festival Golden Deer Awards. The short film he directed *Lily* won awards at various international film festivals, including LAFA and the International Independent Film Awards.