Chaoqun Wang is a Chinese filmmaker who likes to find the root to her stories in reality and to explore the boundary to her creativity. Her short films have won accolades and premiered in film festivals around the world. She is a current MFA Directing student at Columbia University. She is based in New York City and was selected as the Narrative Programming Fellow for Gotham EDU for year 2022.

“The memory fades away like leaves falling from a withered tree when one gets old. This film is inspired by a documentary video of a famous ballet dancer in the late stage of Alzheimer’s which was taken a few days before she died. She is completely lost in consciousness but miraculously remembers the exact same dancing moves when she hears “Swan Lake.” I marveled at the miracle of life in defiance against aging and disease, and found the contrast of the strength of life when one’s dying in weakness interesting. In the story of “Begone Love”, Mrs. Zhao has her husband to help her do what the ballet lady does all alone. Dancing becomes the only channel that allows Mr. Zhao to communicate with his Alzheimer’s partner because she is completely “gone” but becomes present only when she dances. I’m interested in exploring how the expression of love comes in many different forms, just as much as language. We see two lonely souls isolated and tortured by this disease steer their own way towards love. In this case, dancing is the cure for them. I hope this film reaches out to the relevant community and brings that power of cure to the audience.”

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