There is a phenomenon where both ex-Nazi parents and survivors of concentration camps avoid discussing their past with their children. My father, too, never spoke about his past, and I never dared to ask. Perhaps it was rooted in shame or a sense of regret for actions or circumstances he was part of.
My perspective shifted during a seemingly ordinary moment. While reading my middle school history book, my father came across a paragraph about Mao and remarked, “Now it's allowed to say that Mao wasn’t always right?” This simple comment startled me – it was my first glimpse of how history could be fluid, subject to change and reinterpretation. What is the relationship between the truth and the narratives we inherit?
The avoidance of uncomfortable truths had shaped my understanding of my father. I have missed the chance to connect with his lived experiences.
With this film I try to break the silence, to piece together fragments of a vanishing past and to reveal the stories that haunt us unspoken.
Nana Xu
