The film is for Derung people, one of the smallest ethnic minorities in China, and the primary spoken language in this film is Derung language. We vibrantly expressed their energetic and poetic temperament, strong ethnic identity, as well as profound and mysterious cultural heritage.


This was my initial attempt to depict people with fundamentally different tradition, culture, art and the way of life from us. With rich sensitivity and thoughtfulness, we approached and walked in Derung people, who live for generations along the Derung River Valley in the northwestern region of Yunnan Province, bordering Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and Myanmar to the south.

In making this film, I combined poetic artistic expression with cultural research depth and documentary sincerity. I adopted anthropological fieldwork methodology to live with the Derung people, without disturbing or consciously influencing them. We gave one camera to local people and we used several portable cameras to politely capture meaningful and vivid moments. The distinction between the photographer and the photographed vanished, as they were not acting but simply living in front of our cameras. Additionally, with unique visual composition and color scheme, the film blurred the boundaries between present and past, reality and illusion, thus opened up abundant possibilities and inspiration for LIFE itself.

Derung cultural treasures such as epic, folk songs, group dances, rituals, and daily life of the Derung were powerfully depicted in this film. For instance, we filmed a 92-year-old woman singing the epic The Birth of the World, which is about to be lost, new-year folk songs and group dances, animal deity worship ritual and so on. We integrated unique cultural symbols into the film, such as the hearth (symbolizing the life of the tribe and the entrance to celestial realm), butterfly (symbolizing the soul), rainbow, cave and so on.

Derung language is ancient and structurally distinct from the languages familiar with. Fortunately, two Derung cultural figures supported us entering Derung subtitles.

The film not only addressed the monologue and biography of a single ethnic group, but also offered a universal orientation: how one can consciously and meaningfully shape self-existence in the here and now amidst the chaotic while transcendentally beautiful currents of life.