Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

In what began as an attempt at reconciling with her mother, He Xiaopei’s first feature-length documentary takes us from the 1920-2020s through the lives, desires, and willpower of her mother, herself, and her daughter. As they experience political and social revolution, bend the rules and are desperate for a life to call one’s own, each woman passes to the next the most tender lover, but also, unintentionally, trauma.

A film by He Xiaopei. China, 2021, 82 minutes. Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles

Dr. He Xiaopei is an independent film director and the founder of Pink Space, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to promoting sexual rights and gender equality.As a teenager, Xiaopei worked as a shepherd in the hills. After graduating from university, she joined the Chinese Mountaineering Team and climbed the Himalayas, including the Namcha Barwa summit. Following her mountaineering career, she served as an economist at the State Council, conducting research on economic reform for 14 years.Since the 1990s, Xiaopei has been active in the feminist and lesbian movements in China and participated in the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. She later moved to the UK to pursue studies in sexuality and cultural studies, earning a Ph.D. before returning to China, where she founded Pink Space and began working with film as a medium to represent marginalised desires and lives.