Experiencing Interruptions?

Mom Killed My Fish

Chen Yu, a 17-year-old girl, falls into insomnia because of a strange sound. Her symptom gets better with her mother by her side, leading her to find the true source of the sound.

  • Hedi Yang
    Director
  • Hedi Yang
    Writer
  • Zifei Yan
    Key Cast
    "Daughter"
    Embrace Again
  • Haipeng Xu
    Key Cast
    "Mother"
    Didi, Blue Sun Palace
  • Yimeng Xu
    Producer
  • Hedi Yang
    Producer
  • Haotian Cao
    Director of photography
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Family
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 21 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 26, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    80,000 CNY
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    ARRI Alexa Mini, 4K UHD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Communication University of Zhejiang, Liaoning Normal University, Bejing Film Academy
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival
    Houston, Texas
    United States
    Remi Winner
  • Flicker‘s Rhode Island International Film Festival

    United States
    Semi-finalist
Director Biography - Hedi Yang

Female independent screenwriter and director from China.

When asked for my motivation for entering the world of filmmaking, the answer, I discovered, lay in the sincere exploration of self and the world around me. With a background in journalism, meeting people from all walks of life has instilled profound empathy toward my surrounding world. However, I realized I had often overlooked expressing my individuality. Filmmaking emerged as a medium through which I could immerse myself in independent contemplation.

My stories draw inspiration primarily from my personal experiences and dreams. Family has been the greatest influence on my life, and I am particularly fascinated by family relationships. The narrative of my films often revolves around different stages of my life and the profound impact of my family members. Filmmaking is not just a career choice for me; it is a profound expression of self and a means to share my unique perspective with the world. For me, film encapsulates a cherished life experience, a journey of self-reconciliation and discovering myself.

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Director Statement

The story originates from my own experience when I was in adolescence. The relationship between me and my mother seems apathetic because neither could we express our spirit and feeling well, always leading to sort of misunderstanding and heartbreaking. From then on, we seldom talked to each other in order to avoid conflict and I gradually found that lack of communication -- a shared issue among most families in China. Family membership brings a great impact on my social behaviour and mental health during adolescence and I would like to deliver this voice to those with a shared experience.

In this work, I focus on the perspective of a boarding female high school student, using individual experience to a repressive mother-daughter relationship, using surreal voice and symbolic shots to externalise the psychological things of the protagonist, leading the audience to find the real source of insomnia from the perspective of the protagonist Chen Yu. At the end of the film, the mother-daughter relationship ushered in new challenges, just like our troubled adolescence and the open ending of self-reconciliation.