Synopsis

A therapist from a Berlin university navigates delicate emotional terrain as she provides solace to a grieving student grappling with a peer’s suicide on campus.

Curators’ note

Berlin, campus, and death—After All is a heartfelt masterpiece by director Chongyan Liu. With a blend of realism and poetic imagery, the film portrays a young woman grappling with the trauma of witnessing her friend's suicide. Through her introspection and raw vulnerability, the story unfolds as a poignant exploration of pain and struggle. These moments, though deeply personal, reflect the broader challenges faced by Chinese international students in today's world, making the film both intimate and universal in its resonance. (Chen Xi）

Director’s bio

Chongyan Liu, born in Guizhou, China, is a visual artist and filmmaker working between France and China. She began her formal training in painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (2013-2017), after which she continued her studies at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, obtaining a Diplôme National Supérieur d’Arts Plastiques in 2022 under the mentorship of Atelier Cogitore and Atelier Halilaj-Urbano. In 2024, she completed a residency at Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, where she expanded her practice in visual arts with a focus on multimedia and audiovisual experimentation.

Chongyan’s work is informed by her perspective as a second child born amid China’s socio-cultural transformation. Spanning moving images, installation, sculpture, and painting, her practice employs what she calls "total image-making" — a process of creating, reclaiming, and re-contextualizing images across multiple media.

Her work has been featured in prominent international exhibitions and film festivals, including IDFA, Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Beijing International Short Film Festival, Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival, and Lo Schermo dell’Arte. Her upcoming feature documentary, Niche of the Dragon, was recently selected for the Doc Station Talent Lab at the 74th Berlinale, a significant milestone in her exploration of hybrid documentary forms.

Director‘s statement

Beyond a mere cathartic conduit, the subtextual politics manifest. If we consider humanity to be a cohesive entity, then instances of suicide serve as an appalling indictment of our societal structures, with systems that more often than not forsake those on the fringes of absolute despair — those purportedly "difficult." How can those of us left to administer the sticking plasters function? At the very least, we can acknowledge that far too often, we attempt to "normalise" these jarring realities, conveniently slotting them into our established belief systems. Despite paying lip service to its value, individuality remains elusive.

No matter how much time marches on, the fundamentals from that night will never be allayed, as if suspended in formaldehyde. I have thought at length as to where an intervention might have been made, but I've come to the conclusion that such hindsight is futile.

Festival & Awards

2024

World Premiere: Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival

Chinese Mainland Premiere: Beijing International Short Film Festival

(Winner of Best Film for the Chinese Short Film Competition)

Casts

Chuning Dai, Antonia Sandrock

Credits