On the Road
- Short Film Programs
- 61 mins
“…The answer might be that people, many people, have lost all their political bearings. Mapless, they do not know where they are heading. Every day people follow signs pointing to some place which is not their home but a chosen destination. Road signs, airport embarkment signs, terminal signs. Some are making their journeys for pleasure, others on business, many out of loss or despair. On arrival they come to realize they are not in the place indicated by the signs they followed. Where they now find themselves has the correct latitude, longitude, local time, currency, yet it does not have the specific gravity of the destination they chose. They are beside the place they chose to come to…” – John Berger, Ten Dispatches About Place
Curated by Chen-Yi Wu
In this program
Iron, Butterfly
Directed by Ke Liu
To catch up with work, a burdened blacksmith in rural China decides not to visit his wife, who works in the city all year round, until a visit from a privileged artist alters his outlook on life.
Drive to Freedom
Directed by Yuqin Wu
Driving has been promised to lead to freedom and autonomy. But for whom? This short delves into Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia — one of the highways with the most traffic and pedestrian fatalities — uncovering the impact of a driver-centric landscape on people’s perception of their bodies.
Recurrence
Directed by Ali Alizadeh
An old man can’t find his cows. Realizing there’s no place for him in his house, he leaves, and the cows come back.