"A Landscape Sequence" is an experimental short film I crafted using 16mm film. The soundtrack incorporates audio clips from online archives featuring two elderly Chinese women. One, previously unacquainted with literature, began writing about her youth in her later years. The other, the esteemed teacher of ancient Chinese poetry, Ye Jiaying, recites Li Shangyin's Tang Dynasty poem "The Sad Zither," which delves into the melancholy of time passing. The Sad Zither Why should the sad zither have fifty strings? Each string, each strain evokes but vanished springs: Dim morning dream to be a butterfly; Amorous heart poured out in cuckoo’s cry. In moonlit pearls see tears in mermaid’s eyes; From sunburnt jade in Blue Field let smoke rise. Such feeling cannot be recalled again; It seemed long-lost even when it was felt then.
