Recently, the Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival in Germany announced the shortlist of works. Two works created by graduates from the School of Animation and Digital Arts at Communication University of China, "David" and "Kidhood Flows", made it onto the list.
The Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival is hosted by the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam, and is one of the largest and most influential student film festivals in Europe. Since its establishment in 1971, each edition of the festival has received thousands of works from more than 120 countries for competition and exhibition. It attracts college-level film creators from around the world, providing an international platform for young filmmakers to showcase their works and is committed to promoting film cultural exchange and innovation.
"David"
The film "David" was jointly created by Xue Kai, Hong Jiexi, Jiang Bilun, and Zeng Wen, who were students majoring in Digital Media Art (Digital Imaging and Online Video Direction) from the class of 2020, and was guided by their teacher Wang Fahua.
The film tells the story that in a small town in Northeast China, a lost childhood photo evokes "my" affectionate memories of "David". The images from the millennium are pieced together by fragmented and swirling childhood memories. As a child, "I" always hid under David's protection. The two often ran together in the sunflower fields, chasing the roar of the old golden train in the small town. Later, David became an orphan, and "I" was forced to part with him due to family changes. When "I" stepped out of the small town alone and experienced loneliness, fatigue, and sadness, recollecting the afternoon when "we" picked apricots together, in a trance, David became the imaginary version of myself.
"Kidhood Flows"
The film "Kidhood Flows" was jointly created by Luo Xianyao, Li Bohan, Xue Kai, and Chen Yipei, who were students majoring in Digital Media Art (Digital Imaging and Online Video Direction) from the class of 2020, and was guided by their teachers Zhou Yinan and Shen Wei. The film mainly tells a fantastic story of the protagonist Xiaoming, who, in a state of confusion facing environmental changes, goes to the ruins of a park and unexpectedly meets an old man and an astronaut. The director uses a plain and gentle audio-visual language to present a fantastic effect, expressing the melancholy of the disappearance of simple and pure childhood fun, in the process of urban change. Through this penny plain style, it forms an atypical fantasy children's film.
*Article translated by a large language model.
Editor: Li Jichu
