Experiencing Interruptions?

Stability

A word to fully describe the past 18 years of my life is instability. Due to many factors, I have moved frequently from cities to countries. At first, the instability brought me many discomforts because every time I finally made friends and knew my surroundings, I was forced to move around again. I never really stayed at a house for more than five years. The consistent moving shapes my identity, who I am, my personality, and how I act with others. Therefore, making this the central idea of my film is noteworthy. In the cinematic production I created, I delved into the theme of stability and instability through various direct and indirect artistic techniques. In particular, I employed four human senses - mouth, eyes, nose, and ears - as symbolic representations of stability and to highlight the contrasting effects of instability and stability.

  • Momo Yang
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 16, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    .mov
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Mount Holyoke College
Director - Momo Yang
Director Statement

Four senses – Eyes/Mouth/Ears/Nose
In my film, I emphasized the need for stability by using the four senses as the main element. As I moved around to various places, I associated each human sense with my strongest feeling toward each location. This allowed me to showcase the multiple places I visited and the emotions I experienced more vividly. For instance, eyes are related to Canada because the view of nature is entirely different than where I grew up in the city. Also, due to the language barrier, I stopped talking as much as before, so I emphasized Canada as my eyes since I mainly use my eyes to explore the world—moreover, the nose. Taiwan is my nationality, but I never really stayed there, showing my instability. My most significant memory of Taiwan is its smell of fantastic food. Then it is my ears, representing the north where my mom comes from, and I felt more at home due to my grandparents. The mouth is where I relate Beijing to, the place that I stayed up for five years. However, due to college, we moved out of that place too.
As I bid farewell to a place I have called home, I felt a sharp pang of pain in my heart. The memories I have made and the emotional bonds I have formed with everyone around the place made it hard for me to leave. But I had to move again. It was a difficult decision, but it was something that I had to do. By making this film, I aim to express and potentially release these complex emotions through artistic expression. The film will serve as a medium for me to convey the depth of my feelings and the struggles I had to go through. It is my way of saying goodbye to that part of my life while simultaneously paying tribute to it. Life can be full of challenges; sometimes, our desires remain unfulfilled. But with this film, I want to bring closure to that chapter of my life and find solace because I have immortalized my experiences through art.
I chose four of the human senses as the main elements of my film because the human senses ideally symbolize stability to me. The senses are constantly present in our lives, yet our perception of the external environment varies. The human senses juxtaposed contrasting effects of stability and instability as we experience and interpret is not an absolute representation of reality. Approaching our sensory experiences with skepticism and critical analysis through artistic expression allows me to develop a more accurate and nuanced understanding of my identity and the world around me.