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Down by the Water

Down by the Water

Tania Podveikina, Pahriya Ghalip, Ekaterina Kormilitsyna, Nina Dillenz, Grace Hsia • 2023

Duration: 00:27:56
Language: Mandarin, English
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Country/Region: Mainland China

“Down by the Water” is a short film series that was shot in Vienna, Austria and Beijing, China in 2021 with the support of the Austrian Consulate General Shanghai. Starting out with a nightly walk along the Danube canal in central Vienna, Austria-based multimedia artists Ekaterina Kormilitsyna and Tania Podveikina pull the viewer into their stories that come to mind as they walk down a tunnel towards the water where their stories unfold, be they abstract and surreal, or entirely research-based. They then pass on the camera to Nina Dillenz, who takes it back to Beijing, where she finishes her film during a three-week hotel quarantine, reinterpreting the water theme in a confined space. Upon her release, the camera will be passed on to Duan Wenyu, Xia Mengyi and Pahriya Ghalip. A walk to be continued in China’s capital…

Non-Fiction Female Director
Short-Series China Austria

CAST & CREW

Tania Podveikina

Tania Podveikina

Director

Pahriya Ghalip

Pahriya Ghalip

Director

Ekaterina Kormilitsyna

Ekaterina Kormilitsyna

Director

Nina Dillenz

Nina Dillenz

Director

Grace Hsia

Grace Hsia

Director

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Tania Podveikina

Tania Podveikina

Director

Bodies of water, be it rivers or the sea, play an immense role in connecting cultures. They carry not only goods to trade from far-flung places, but also people: salesmen, explorers, conquerors. And with the people, stories travel down streams and across oceans. Water is also an element traditionally associated with the female as is shown in countless myths from across the globe in the shape of deities, mermaids, sirens and more generally as it symbolizes the creation of life. From the sea foam born Aphrodite to the river goddesses of Egyptian and Hindu mythology, to the lady of the lake from the Arthurian Legend and the Daoist ideas of Yin and Yang, water permeates human imagination as a female force.

TRAILER