Since the beginning of the epidemic in 2020, the group of international students
Their fate and story is quite representative
After the epidemic broke out
What exactly is the impact on people and the changes that it brings about?
To describe it, we need to start with small things
Which continue for a relatively long time
For starters, we focused on hot topics
Like the difficulties of returning to home country, or catching COVID19
The problems they met in their studies
But as it progressed
Our attention began to be drawn to the characters themselves
The documentary film consists of five episodes
The protagonist of episode 1, Zhou Qianyi, studied physics in Germany
When the outbreak first occurred, he was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma in terminal stages
Her doctor told her that she may start taking hospice care
The situation that she was faced with was
On the one hand, she had to go back to China to seek new treatment
On the other hand, she had to bid farewell to her lovers and friends in Germany
It took a lot of courage to say goodbye
To explore the possibility of learning physics
“If I accomplish something”
“It may add glory to the family”
“We have a physicist in our family”
“Now I don’t think about it anymore”
“All I want is to go home”
“Just go home”
The third one, Xiao Dong
He is just like the everyone of us
Even many other industries
He had been working in the tourist industry in France
His career going very well
"(Hosted) the annual Cannes Film Festival, Huawei Team Building, NetEase Team Building"
But the travel industry was hit the hardest
By the epidemic
Then he started looking for new possibilities, which was to become a photographer
“This could be a studio”
“Redecorating it could cost almost 100,000”
When we finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel
The epidemic made a comeback
“You know how that feels?”
“Why me”
“I can repeat that all night”
“Why me”
Xiao Dong’s expression might not be that powerful
But there are many ways to be brave
His way is lesser seen
But most of ours are just like his
“I think it’s a lot like me”
"Stay in the soil for a year, and reborn from the cocoon covered in armor"
Jiakai from episode 5
In fact, few Chinese goes to such remote mountainous area like Montana
I majored in documentary photography which was quite unpopular
Within a radius of a few tens of miles, he may be the only one Chinese
He is a brilliant documentary photographer
“Listen JK, you got the talent”
“You wanna do this”
“And you say you wanna do it”
“You are the best, so you are not gonna screw it up”
When I graduated from university I was young and ignorant
There are countless possibilities in front of me
After the outbreak
The range of choice was narrowing
He had to come back, but what could he do back here
Emotions were repressed
The torrents of time push one forward
You can’t see it
The program started at the end of 2020
The core difficulty for the director
Was that I couldn’t see the protagonists
I couldn’t meet them abroad
I could only ask other photographers to help with the shooting
For international students
Too much happened to them that year
In fact, they had a strong desire to express and deep regret
The photographers
They really put their hearts into it, and they were very sincere
Xing Jianxuan in episode 2
She majored in theater
In the preparation for the play
She met many difficulties
“The rain is getting heavy”
“Let’s suspend for now”
She cried
Photographer put aside his camera
It’s nothing, I stayed in a gang when I first came to New York in my 20s
It didn’t last, then I found a job and started a company
My partner ran away
You just have to suck it and carry on
Maybe it’s because of the epidemic and they were far away from home
They were naturally stressed out
People got together and we thought
The documentary film itself could be some comfort
“The epidemic is not over”
“The future is uncertain”
“But I believe”
“That we have tried hard enough to not disappoint future us”
“Anyway, just keep on dreaming”
We went to see Zhou Qianyi when she was getting treatment in Guangzhou
We felt like we owed it to her
We might not meet anyone else like her in the future
She was honest and open
At that time
We might be the only comfort she could reach
We could talk aimlessly for hours
One time, we talked about “Cassini”
I had a feeling
That might be her attitude towards death
"Stars die and explode and become raw materials for the next generation of galaxies"
“We are all stardust”
Documentary film is based on the understanding and trust between people
It’s not just a story about studying abroad
It’s actually a journey of life
How big the impact of the epidemic is
The true state of many of us
Has not been intense
The impact is like pricking with a needle
Time after time, you may not see wounds
But there is poison on the tip
It stays in your system
I think it’s a reality that we have been faced with
In recent years