Between Father and Son

父子之间

  • Ronin Hsu
  • Hong Kong
  • 2022
  • 73 min
  • World Premiere
  • Luminous

This portrait of a Chinese family centers on the paterfamilias, who at the age of 85 still works his land by hand every day, his wife, who feeds and slaughters the chickens, and one of their sons, who lives in an apartment in the city and spends his days keeping company with his television and a steady flow of alcohol.

Crisp black-and-white images capture faces, activities, rituals and gatherings of the entire family, including grandchildren, around the dining table in the family home. The largely static camerawork invites you to observe their roles and relationships. Out in the field, the old man replies to the chirping of the birds, but in the house his taciturn nature is dominant. It is here that the son’s isolation becomes painfully tangible.

In documenting his own family, filmmaker Ronin Hsu exposes recognizable and universal family themes. Including the indisputable fact that every father is also a son.

Credits

  • 73 min
  • black and white
  • DCP
  • Spoken languages: Chinese
  • Subtitles in: English
Director
Ronin Hsu
Production
Ronin Hsu for Les Concerto Image (Hong Kong) Ltd
Cinematography
Ronin Hsu
Editing
Ronin Hsu
Screening copy
Les Concerto Image (Hong Kong) Ltd

IDFA history

2022
World Premiere
Luminous

Share this film

Print this page

IDFA history

This website uses cookies.

By using cookies we can measure how our site is used, how it can be further improved and to personalize the content of online advertisements.

Read
 here everything about our cookie policy. If you choose to decline, we only place functional and analytical cookies