Spring 1976, during the Cultural Revolution in China, 5-year-old Swallow is abandoned at a public boarding preschool in central Beijing. When the persimmons are ripe, Swallow masters how to cry in her harsh new life, but doesn’t forget how to fly. Inspired by filmmaker Mochi Lin’s mother’s experience as a young child, this story is told through a delicate stop-motion animation style that is at once soft and harsh at the same time, resulting in a profoundly moving film of survival.
Canada
2022
In Mandarin with English subtitles
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Mochi Lin
ANIM
Mochi Lin
Editor
Mochi Lin
Original Music
Mochi Lin, Derek Jin
Director
Mochi Lin
Mochi Lin is a filmmaker, animator, pianist, and composer, recently graduated with a BFA in Film and Animation from Rhode Island School of Design. She also concentrated in History Philosophy and Social Sciences, and studied Music at Brown University. Mochi grew up looking up at the green roof tiles around her neighbourhood, running between the red city walls of imperial Beijing. However, when she fled to Canada in 2015, looking down through the tiny porthole, all she perceived was a city long shrouded with grey smog and yellow sandstorm…
Filmography: Swallow Flying to the South (2022)
VIFF Short Forum
See more shorts in this series
1: Call your mother
Shorts from: Canada, China, UK.
2: Memory & mediation
Shorts from: Canada, France, Lebanon, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Syria, USA.
3: The peripheral core
Shorts from: Brazil, Canada, Japan, Norway, USA.
4: Um, womanhood
Shorts from: Canada, Columbia, France, Netherlands, Sweden.
5: The absurd & spiritual
Shorts from: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal.
6: City slickin’
Shorts from: Canada, France, Jordan, Spain, USA.
7: All day I dream about
Shorts from: Canada, India, Spain, Taiwan, USA.
8: Love and despair
Shorts from: China, France, Germany, Portugal, USA.
9: The scary one
Shorts from: Canada, Korea, Romania, USA.
10: The new socialism; ceasefire now!
Shorts from: Belgium, Canada, China, India, Myanmar, UK.
Short Fuse
An eye-opening collection of shorts exploring memories, experiences and relationships between friends, family, and across generations. From powwows in North America, to the rivers of Ethiopia and beyond, these shorts offer memorable stories on screen.