Her Summer
“How to catch clouds?”
ABOUT
This observational documentary centers on a young girl, Droma, living in a remote Chinese village as she struggles to improve her studies over a short summer. Two years ago, Droma’s dream was to build a dancing school. But today, her dream is on hold as her family suffers from poverty, having spent all their money to afford the expense of her grandmother’s surgery. To make matters worse, she realizes that if she cannot get into a better high school, she will be forced into the same fate as her sister, to get married and become a housewife.
YEAR 2019
RUN TIME 21:57 Min
CAST & CREW CREDITS
DIRECTED BY Yunye Chen
PRODUCED BY Zining Zhai
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Zhengyang Chen
POST-PRODUCTION SOUND BY Saori
SCORE BY Andy Li
PRINCIPAL CAST
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
This film is an ongoing document of a young student, Droma, and my relationship with her.
Filming Droma’s life in Raowu, China, was the first time I saw people who were stuck in poverty and witnessed the effects of a lack of resources. Droma and I built a relationship over the process of filming, and we promised that we would see each other again someday. Two years later, I fulfilled my promise and went back.
The film is not a passive document of her life; I cannot say I did not affect her life. I was there. I influenced her. But I have also tried to show a person as a person, to capture her on her continuing journey. And in this way, the film does not end.
DIRECTOR BIO
Yunye Chen is a documentary filmmaker. Since graduating from the Shanghai Visual Institute College of Art, she has interned at One Dream, a music company in Shanghai, filming advertisements for artists and designers and is currently pursuing her MFA in filmmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
FILM AND PRODUCTION STILLS
AWARDS
FULL FILM
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Yunye Chen is a documentary filmmaker. Since graduating from the Shanghai Visual Institute College of Art, she has interned at One Dream, a music company in Shanghai, filming advertisements for artists and designers and is currently pursuing her MFA in filmmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
(Update provided in May 2020)