Private Project

A Journey of the Leaves

When memories of his father's violence chase him from China, a queer filmmaker drifts into an autumn-touched Estonian town. There, a wandering traveler, a bookstore owner, a poet's living statue, and another queer Chinese soul carrying similar wounds guide him through the scattered pieces of his past.

  • Yash Zhang
    Director
    Thus They Spoke
  • Ming A
    Key Cast
  • David Griffith
    Key Cast
  • Evelyn
    Key Cast
  • Threelife
    Sound Design
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    叶子们的旅行
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Fludity, Encouter, Travel, Home, Diaspora, Queerness, LGBTQ+, Family Trauma, Coming of Age
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    1,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Estonia, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, 8mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival
    Hawick
    United Kingdom
    May 1, 2025
    UK/National Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Queereast Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    May 5, 2025
    London Premiere
  • DOXA Documentary Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    May 9, 2025
    International Premiere
Director Biography - Yash Zhang

Yifei "Yash" Zhang (he/they) is a Chinese filmmaker and artist whose work explores queerness, fluidity, mental health, and futurity. Yash's work-in-progress debut feature documentary "Ma, Let's Fly Together" has been selected for the UnionDocs Summer Lab and Edinburgh Pitch in 2024. Their short films and collaborations have been featured at various festivals and exhibitions, including Nowness China (2024), Sheffield Doc Fest (2024), First International Film Festival(2024), Indie Memphis Film Festival (2022), and the International Short Film Festival Canton (2023), etc. Yash holds an MFA in Creative Documentary from University College London and a BA in Theatre and Film from Rhodes College.

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Director Statement

Tracing life's fluid contours, the wondering filmmaker unearths familial wounds through ephemeral encounters. Strangers and friends, like living mirrors, reflect shared entanglements of the heart. In this introspective journey, each fleeting connection becomes a brushstroke on the canvas of self, painting a portrait of human bonds and the echoes of our pasts.

In a poetic interweaving of paths, 'A Journey of the Leaves' is a personal essay film that charts the introspective voyage of the filmmaker adrift from home. Captured during a springtime journey to Estonia with a Super8mm camera, the film navigates the intersections of diaspora, queerness, the search for solace, the uncovering of shared traumas, and the transformative power of kinship. This lyrical odyssey seeks not to only explore the pain of the past but also to embrace the fluid identities and healing found in the journey itself.