Zi you xing

Filmemacherin Yang Shu, Alter Ego des Regisseurs, wohnhaft in Hongkong, reist auf Einladung eines Filmfestivals nach Taiwan, zeitgleich kommt ihre Mutter mit Tourismusvisum in einer Reisegruppe „versteckt“ vom chinesischen Festland auf der Insel an, um Zeit mit ihrer Tochter und deren Familie zu verbringen. Nicht erst der hingeworfene Satz, die Tochter sei ja schon ganz Hongkongerin geworden, lässt die beiden sich ihrer wachsenden Fremdheit gewahr werden. Das Private ist (geo)politisch in dieser Geschichte einer Tochter-Mutter-Beziehung, in der asiatische Einflusssphären ebenso verhandelt werden wie die Frage, was es eigentlich mit dem „Chinesisch-Sein“ auf sich hat. (Katja Wiederspahn)

Several years ago, Ying Liang, a director from the People Republic of China, fell afoul with the authorities over one of his works and left for Hong Kong, which might be a part of the nation proper but is still (until 2047) a Special Administrative Region and thus like another country. His latest: ZI YOU XING, shows a female (!) PRC filmmaker called Yang Shu whose career trajectory cum œuvre are most similar to his, including a true crime-exposé just like his own WO HAI YOU HUA YAO SHOU (2013). Yang gets invited to screen this work at a festival in Taiwan, which means monumental visa hassles. Yet she’s willing to go through all that as this offers the opportunity to meet up with her mother who lives on the mainland. Yang’s Hong Kong- born and raised husband gets her onto a Taiwan tour the couple will only trail – all that so as to not alert authorities unduly. The reunion proves to be a quietly heart-breaking affair, while the festival experience makes it clear how different liberty and a common sense of security feel in the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan ... All that in a style defined by long takes of a more observational character, a penchant for the allusive, and a tone at once melancholic and ironic. (Olaf Möller)