How Can I Rid My Mind of Her

Directed by Huang Wenli

Filming Location: Yingde, Guangdong

Our movie, "How Can I Rid My Mind of Her", follows the story of Ah Jian, a tea picker who has returned from overseas. The film tells the story of how Ah Jian deals with the pain of losing his lover, who lives far away in Vietnam. 

The movie depicts the story of Ah Jian, a man in his fifties who is constantly haunted by memories of the past. He wishes that the tragic events that led to the loss of his beloved had never occurred and that she was still with him. As the tea factory progresses rapidly with the changing times, Ah Jian, who is deeply attached to the past, finds himself at odds with his present surroundings.

We chose the Hongqi Tea Factory located in Yingde City as our primary filming location. When I first scouted the tea factory, I fell in love with its atmosphere. The spaces here once used for tea production were overwhelmingly large compared to human scale. At night, when I wandered alone in the factory, I felt a deep sense of loneliness, which is precisely the emotion that lingers in Ah Jian's heart and imbues the entire film.

In my previous works, I was more inclined to depict the current emotions of the characters. However, "How Can I Rid My Mind of Her" stands out because it revolves around the huge pain of losing a loved one behind the characters and the story, which is challenging to portray directly on screen. Therefore, our hurdle was to effectively create a sufficient atmosphere and present the character's past memories and emotions in the present through visual and auditory language, with minimal use of explicit dialogue.

As the film draws to a close, the enigma of whether Ah Jian has truly relinquished the anguish in his heart lingers in the air. Through this deliberately open-ended conclusion, we hope to express that time, despite its relentless passage, remains fallible in its ability to eradicate every vestige of pain. Certain afflictions, destined to intertwine with our existence, persistently endure. What we need to learn is how to take good care of ourselves and live well while embracing this pain.

《海水泡的茶是什么味道》

黄文礼 导演作品

【拍摄地】广东英德

【导演手记】

我们的影片《海水泡的茶是什么味道》以一位名叫阿建的归侨采茶工为主人翁，讲述了“当远在越南的爱人逝去，他如何与伤痛相处至今”的故事。

片中，年过半百的阿建一直沉浸在过去的回忆里，希望一切都没有发生，希望爱人依然在自己身边……因此，当时代和茶厂昂扬前进时，恋旧的阿建不可避免地与周遭产生了对抗。

我们的主拍摄地是位于英德市的红旗茶厂。在我第一次来到红旗茶厂勘景时，我就喜欢上了这里的氛围。相对于人之渺小，茶厂里曾经用于制茶的空间十分之大。在夜晚，当我一个人在茶厂漫游时，我感到了深深的孤独。而这种孤独，恰是萦绕在阿建心中并满溢全片的首要情绪。

以往的创作中，我更习惯“当下的事情当下说”。而《海水泡的茶是什么味道》的特殊点在于，人物和故事的强大驱动力——爱人逝去带来的伤痛感，很难直观地拍摄出来。因此，我们面临的创作挑战是——如何在少用直白台词交代信息的前提下，营造充足氛围，用视听语言把人物过往的记忆和情感呈现在当下。

当影片进入尾声，我们仍不清楚阿建是否放下了心中的伤痛。我们希望通过这个开放式结局来表达——时间不是万能的，时间不能抹去所有的伤痛，有些伤痛注定要伴随我们度过一生。而我们要学会的是如何在怀抱伤痛的同时，好好照顾自己，好好生活下去。