Weijia Ma's animated short film “Step into the River” celebrated its European premiere in the International Short Film Competition of DokLeipzig. The co-production between China and France tells of an old Chinese ritual in a fairytale way. When an infant dies, its body is discharged into the river. This is to prevent the deceased from becoming evil spirits. At least that is the official version.
“Step into the Rivers” is screening at DOKLeipzig
From the perspective of two girls, the film leads the viewer into an enigmatic sphere that mixes reality, superstition and bitter brutality. On one side, there is a girl who lives with her grandmother. Lu is a curious and adventurous child, but is teased by the other children in the village because she has been abandoned by her parents. The grandmother tries to educate the girl, but only gives her outdated role patterns. As a girl, she must not be so wild and she should not climb trees. Climbing a boat is also not considered an appropriate activity. But the little orphan girl Wei wants nothing else than to be close to her stepfather. Just like Lu, she is shunned by the others. It is said that she was once found in the river. The river has its secrets, the two girls are convinced of that. They want to get to the bottom of it and take the boat out.
For decades it was forbidden in China to have more than one child per family. Forced abortions, sterilizations, abandonment of the babies and presumably also the killing of them are among the consequences of this policy. In many cases it affected girls, because they were considered less valuable for the survival of the families. The consequences of this are now becoming increasingly visible.
The animation makes use of carefully made drawings full of small details. The children have independent facial features and the river also visually unfolds its threatening and fascinating power. The saturated colors and the calm narrative rhythm seduce the viewer into believing that he is in a fairy tale. The film tells its story in a child-oriented way, but also impresses adults, especially in the one key scene on the river.
