Someone Wants to Tell You
Liao Xu
China / 2025 / Fiction / 34’0”I2601616
SYNOPSIS
A woman follows daytime clues into a river to retrieve an object—a QR code concealed within a letter. Upon scanning it, she activates a film. The story reveals a kidnapped man, bound and dangling from a tree, who calls the person he values most for rescue. Instead of aid, he is met with cold indifference. Overwhelmed by despair, the man slips into a hallucinatory haze, conjuring the image of his beloved woman before him. Yet she ignores him once more and vanishes. In this delusion, he morphs into "a stray dog," compelled to seek her out. Along the journey, he trails her at a distance—observing, yearning, yet paralyzed by fear. He knows proximity would dissolve her illusion, yet he cannot bear to lose sight of her. Throughout the night, he follows her through fragmented spaces infused with his imagination, dreams, and memories.