Taiwan Docs

The River is an experimental short documenting the repetitively traumatic nature of pregnancy. Director HSU Ya-ting explores childbirth and the physical and emotional toll that childbirth took on her personally. In her film, HSU uses her body as a canvas, providing viewers with a most intimate view of what the female body is subjected to when bringing a pregnancy to term. Images of HSU accompany impressionistic depictions of her fetus in utero, and images of rivers suggesting both hope and menace, among other things. HSU and her husband invite audiences to partake in their shared nine-month journey.