Huang Zi
Huang Zi was born and grew up in Guangzhou, China. When he was 18 years old, he began studying in the US. He found out his passion for film, and since then, he began to make short films in his third year at the University of California, Berkeley. Huang's first short documentary, The American Dream of a Homeless (2011) was nominated for the Best Short Film at the Campus Movie Festival. After he completed his undergraduate study, he enrolled in the Asian MFA Filming Program at New York University but dropped out after his first year, but he still learned much about filmmaking. His short film The City (2013) was selected at the Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers, Across Asia Film Festival, Cagliari, Beijing Independent Film Festival, among others. After returning back to China, HUANG has made a documentary, My Dad and Mom and Their Young Master (in post-production) and worked as a director of photography for the film The River in the World (dir. Zhang Xiangdong, in post-production).
Director's statement
Even though this is a family drama about a father suffering from cancer, it’s not my intention to dramatize the dying of the farther to stir up sympathy from audiences. The film is divided into three chapters just like the film’s original title – three names representing three members of the family. Each chapter focuses on one specific character. Three stories told from three perspectives are represented in a restrained and correlated manner. Most of the film is presented in a humble and realistic manner except for the last part where the family goes back to their hometown to pay tribute to their late relatives. This part is more surreal because the characters seem to be in reality but at the same time walking in illusion. This combination of reality and illusion is actually closer to what the father experiences at the edge of death. This is a breakthrough from the realistic tone and an experiment to push the film to climax without intensifying the dramatic conflict.
