Experiencing Interruptions?

Fir

In a suburb of Prague, a lonely girl encounters a lost foreign young man. Despite the age difference, she finds a missing sense of belonging through their shared doubts about home.

  • Ruixi Yang
    Key Cast
    "Shan"
  • Meng Xuan Zou
    Key Cast
    "Young Man"
  • Xiange Liu
    Key Cast
    "Shan's Mom"
  • Xueni Yang
    Director
  • Xueni Yang
    Writer
  • Xueni Yang
    Editor
  • Adéla Konečná
    Producer
  • Barbora Smotlachová
    Producer
  • Jin Yuan Liu
    Cinematographer
  • Arina Taylasheva
    Costume Designer
  • Anna Nevrlá
    Set Designer
  • Jakub Jedlička
    Sound Designer
  • Shao-Ting Chang
    Composer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    杉
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Children, minimalistic
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes 51 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    Czech Republic
  • Country of Filming:
    Czech Republic
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:1
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
  • Czech Lion Awards
    Prague
    Czech Republic
    Nomination for Best Student Film
Director Biography - Xueni Yang

Xueni is a writer, director, and editor who grew up across the continents. She received her BA at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA at FAMU in Prague. She is benefited from her dancing background, where she always returns for inspiration. Her short film “Fishbowl” has won the Best Student Film Award at Around International Film Festival (Amsterdam). Short film “Hush” has become the Semi-Finalist at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Official Selection of the NEXXT Competition in the FEST - New Directors New Films Festival, and the Finalist of the Young Director Support Project in Beijing. Currently, she is developing other short and feature film projects centered Asian characters in Prague while lecturing at Prague School of Creative Communication.

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Director Statement

Living as a foreigner for more than ten years, I often feel displaced even in my home country. This feeling only gets stronger as the trip to China became impossible during the pandemic due to the over-strict covid policies imposed by the Chinese government. This experience urges me to address the feeling as a foreigner in one’s own home. Further inspired by my Czech-born Chinese friend who said, “I thought I was Czech, but my Czech friend didn’t see me that way,” I wrote a story about a girl and a foreign young man who, despite the age and gender gap, find a sense of belonging in each other over their shared feeling of displacement.

To make the film accessible to a wide audience, I told the story from a child’s perspective, left out the tedious facts, and tried to create a subtle fairytale-ish tone with all the realistic settings. To get a naturalistic and authentic interaction between the girl and the young man, for the first time, I allowed them to improvise before and after the dialogues. This film was a new experiment for me. I hope it evokes rich delicate emotions and brings my audience a sense of belonging.