Experiencing Interruptions?

Where the Wind Takes Us

A poetic film, drifting through fragments of image and voice, opens an intimate conversation across memory, space, and time. A daughter turns her lens toward her parents, capturing the rhythms of their everyday life while retracing the arc of her own. In this unfolding, tensions surface—between the individual and the family, the city and nature, order and drift. What begins as a personal chronicle becomes a meditation on generational ties, the shifting currents of time, and the paradox of existence.

  • Anni Yan
    Director
  • Anni Yan
    Writer
  • Yong An
    Key Cast
  • Feng Yan
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    悠长假日
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Poetic, Family, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 29, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Beijing Film Academy
Director Biography - Anni Yan

Anni Yan is a filmmaker and screenwriter based in Beijing, China. With a professional background in sustainability consulting at PwC, she brings a distinctive lens to storytelling—one that weaves together the personal and the political, the poetic and the precise. She is currently studying film at the Beijing Film Academy, where her work explores themes of memory, identity, and the quiet complexities of everyday life.

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Director Statement

This film was born out of a personal inquiry into freedom, the meaning of existence, and the fragile construction of self-identity. Having grown up in a boarding school system, I’ve always maintained a quiet distance from my parents. While they lived life on their own terms, I learned to seek validation in external order. Our paths rarely intersected—until they retired and left Beijing in a camper van, embarking on a journey defined by movement and reinvention.

For the first time, I was able to glimpse their world. What began as a simple documentation of their travels gradually evolved into something deeper: an exploration of how they confront time, change, and the desire to remain free in an ever-shifting world. Through this journey, I began to reexamine the shape of family and the elusive presence of “home” in one’s life. The camera became not only a tool of observation, but a bridge—a way to finally connect with them in a space beyond habit and expectation.

Along the way, I came to understand that freedom is not about escaping a place. It is about making peace—with time, with memory, and with oneself. As the van moved farther into the distance, so too did our relationship transform, slowly and wordlessly. Wounds long buried were unearthed, not to divide, but to draw us closer.

For me, this film is a search—for what defines home, for where love belongs, and for the quiet essence of freedom. In the end, this journey is not a departure, but a confrontation. It reflects my belief that we are always passive before time and fate; that we are thrown into the current whether or not we are ready. There is no turning back, and no stillness. The film’s Chinese title translates directly as A Long Holiday. What I wish to convey is that such a holiday is not a means of escape, but a moment to pause, to gaze deeply into life—even as it slips quietly by.