FICTION | 2023 | 15 MIN

GURGLING

YEAR: 2023
RUNTIME: 15 min
TYPE: Fiction
ROLE: Director / Editing Supervisor

SYNOPSIS

Congcong, a young tour guide facing the breakdown of her relationship, encounters an elderly woman determined to find a mysterious waterfall. Hoping to escape her boyfriend’s demands, she agrees to accompany her into the mountains of Lushan. As they venture deeper, their search becomes a journey into memories blurred by time. GURGLING explores how two women at different stages of life come to understand love, memory and time through each other.

TRAILER

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Gurgling grew out of the landscape of Lushan. Its winding paths, shifting terrain and hidden waterfalls make distance and direction uncertain, much like memory: we think we know our destination, only to find it changed as we approach. From that experience emerged an elderly woman searching for a waterfall from her past, and a young guide accompanying her.

I wanted nature to take part in the storytelling through sound. Field recordings and ambient music bring birdsong, environmental sounds and rhythm into dialogue. As the women move deeper into the mountains, familiar surroundings become strange, and their search drifts between reality, memory and imagination.