“Tell your sister, I come to see you”
“Sister, I come to see you”
I first went to Dujiangyan in May 2009
A year after the earthquake
What happened after the catastrophe
Nobody really cared
I gradually got to know the families that lost their only child
A great number to women wanted to have another child
I planned to take about 20 years to observe and record
The growth of the generation after the earthquake
Ye and her family have been my main subject of observation
It’s been 12 years
And hopefully they’d let me continue
Starting from the beginning of the reproduction process
No matter how much pain and difficulties she had been through, Ye was determined to have a child
The earthquake took away their children
And meanwhile a big part of their ego
They didn’t know what they’d live for
“It hurts so much”
Giving birth to a child is more than just a physiological behavior
It’s also a treatment
I burst into tears the moment Ye gave birth to her child
I almost couldn’t continue shooting
With the cycle of life, their daughter came back
All they remembered were the happy moments with their daughter
They were not mentally well-prepared for the boy
“My husband will not be happy”
I decided to make a sequel in 2017
“Why do we have to spend time with him”
“We didn’t with his sister”
“After the Rain” approached the subject from subtle changes in family relationships
Father-son relationships, mother-son relationships, and parent-to-parent relationships
“Because we didn’t do it the last time, now we must spend time with this one”
I went to the cemetery with them
Chuanchuan was 6 years old
Ye told Chuanchuan again and again
This is your sister
What happened in the earthquake
You are here because she left us
“Son, touch your sister, touch her on the face”
Chuanchuan felt confused in the cemetery
His childhood could be complicated
Maybe a little bit too much for a child to take
“This is a family photo, this is you”
“You are mistaken again”
“This is your sister”
It’s very obvious to me
That the father couldn’t really relate to Chuanchuan
“What are you aiming at”
“Who bought you the gun?”
“I’m asking you”
He tended to externalize her emotions
Actually he was not scolding his son
It’s just his curious way of communication
“I don’t wanna say”
Some audience were worried
Is the boy traumatized?
He was really no afraid of his father
His father was a paper tiger
“I don’t care if you are gonna tell”
“Invoice? What invoice?”
“Like this”
“Does it hurt”
“It’s okay”
The shooting didn’t cure them
It’s life itself
The birth and growth of the child
Life going back to normal
And a sense of order
That cured them
I went there, I knew these were still going on
A boulder thrown into a river
The ripples are still expanding
I must resist forgetting with documentaries