In Conversation with Hu Zhaoxiang, Director of As the River Goes By

Centered on the water motif and interwoven timelines, As the River Goes By links two parallel eras through aftershocks stemming from an earthquake that occurred twelve years prior. Its narrative language is steeped in dreamcore aesthetic texture. The director chose early-2000s CCD digital cameras to shoot still photos as narrative anchors. Their low resolution and heavy digital noise not only perfectly replicate the distortion and haziness of human memory, but also create a dreamlike sense of alienation blurring the line between documentary realism and fiction. This ingeniously crafted feature won the Award for Best First Feature Length Film under the “Golden Tomduol Award” in the Main Competition Section of the 3rd Cambodia Asian Film Festival. We sat down exclusively with Director Hu Zhaoxiang to learn about the creative journey behind As the River Goes By.

Hu Zhaoxiang

Mainland Chinese Screenwriter & Director

Filmography

River Straying, As the River Goes By

Q1:

Congratulations, Director Hu, on winning the Award for Best First Feature Length Film under the “Golden Romduol Award” at the 3rd Cambodia Asian Film Festival for As the River Goes By. How did you feel when you learned you had won? Could you share your thoughts at that moment?

Director Hu:

“This Best First Feature Award from the Cambodia Asian Film Festival is the first international accolade for As the River Goes By. My previous works only received festival nominations without taking home prizes, so this recognition means a great deal to me. I was utterly shocked when I heard the result and had not prepared an acceptance speech at all — I never imagined I would win. I was overwhelmed with joy. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Cambodia Asian Film Festival and all jury members for this recognition and encouragement.”

Award Photo of As the River Goes By

Q2:

Beyond this CAFF honor, As the River Goes By has been selected for numerous prestigious events, including the New Currents Main Competition at Busan International Film Festival and the Chinese Fresh Voices section at Shanghai International Film Festival, earning widespread critical acclaim. Looking back on the creative process, did you anticipate how the film would resonate with audiences?

Director Hu:

“I have screened this film at festivals across many countries, and audiences carry vastly different impressions of it. Some viewers discuss plotlines and characters in post-screening Q&As, analyzing character arcs and the core themes I intended to convey. Others share how the story echoes their own coming-of-age experiences. Personally, I hope audiences approach the film with a puzzle-solving mindset. The story is layered with subtle clues, such as the novel about the river monster that Li wrote as a child. By following these threads, viewers can witness the protagonist's shift from a lively, carefree boy to a weighed-down adult. I hope each audience member can find their own answers about growth along the way.”

Q3:

Trains and CCD cameras are two core recurring motifs throughout As the River Goes By. What narrative roles do these two elements fulfill respectively? How did you arrive at the decision to pair them together?

Film Still of As the River Goes By

Director Hu:

“Both motifs are deeply tied to the protagonist's childhood and repressed memories.

First, the train. The lead character works as a train driver, a job once held by his father. Trains thus symbolize his present livelihood while acting as a vessel for memories of his father. Early in the film, the father tells young Li Mingliang: “You travel far and wide, yet it feels as though you have never left.” The train embodies this lingering, circular sentiment toward life.

Second, the CCD camera. It materializes fragmented memories. For instance, the birthday photos the adult protagonist sees on Song Qi's Qzone profile were shot on a CCD camera gifted to him by his father, turning abstract recollections into tangible objects. Additionally, CCD cameras are intrinsically linked to the dreamcore aesthetic. They were among the first digital cameras I encountered in my youth, and today's younger generations also feel powerful nostalgia for this retro medium, creating instant familiarity.

Though seemingly unrelated, both elements revolve around memory. Paired together, they seamlessly weave the protagonist's past and present into a cohesive narrative.”

Film Still of As the River Goes By

Q4:

The film carries a distinct dreamcore narrative style. How did you settle on this unique visual and emotional framework during creation? What is your understanding of dreamcore, and what special significance does it hold for delivering the film's central story?

Director Hu:

“My choice of dreamcore aesthetics came intuitively. I grew up surrounded by retro imaging devices like CCD cameras and felt an immediate connection to their visual language. Beneath the nostalgia lies a broader social timeline: the rapid evolution of image capture technology, from CCD cameras to advanced digital cameras and today's smartphone photography, mirrors the film's twelve-year temporal gap between past and present.

To me, dreamcore is far more than simple retro nostalgia; it carries profound contemporary meaning. The aftershock that strikes twelve years later creates a temporal bridge between the adult protagonist and his younger self. Growth often arrives abruptly, leaving many people with no chance to properly bid farewell to their childhood selves. Dreamcore visuals function like a vivid dream, granting the protagonist — and audiences — a chance to revisit youth. Through imagery that feels simultaneously familiar and alien, viewers confront past trauma and reconcile with their younger selves. This aesthetic aligns perfectly with the film's core theme of self-reconciliation.”

Q5:

Two standout creative conceits run through the film: the fairy-tale fable of the Sha River Monster, and the earthquake aftershock that awakens the protagonist's buried memories. How did you conceive these two devices, and how do they tie into the protagonist's life journey and inner psyche?

Film Still of As the River Goes By

Director Hu:

“The earthquake aftershock concept draws directly from my personal experience. I lived through an earthquake in 2019, and later learned from news reports that the tremor was an aftershock of a seismic event decades earlier. I was fascinated to discover geological records confirming aftershocks can persist for decades, even a century.

This phenomenon became a perfect metaphor for memory: just as aftershocks resurface unexpectedly years later, childhood recollections can be triggered by a scent or a familiar scene at any moment, tightly linking the device to the film's core theme of memory. The line spoken by Song Qian about animals acting strangely before earthquakes also echoes the subplot of the father's departure ahead of the disaster, using natural phenomena to mirror the twists of human fate.

The Sha River Monster fable acts as an allegory for growing up. It contains clues about the hide-and-seek incident and farewells to the past, while foreshadowing narrative turns. Written by young Li Mingliang, the story reveals that the protagonist's deepest desires and unresolved traumas originated in childhood. His eventual reconciliation with himself is made possible through a symbolic dialogue with his younger self via the river monster tale.”

Q6:

Unlike most traditional films that use stark color grading contrasts (cool tones for the present, warm hues for flashbacks) to separate timelines, As the River Goes By lets past and present unfold within identical visual palettes, overlapping freely. Could you walk us through the creative reasoning behind this stylistic choice?

Director Hu:

“This approach was finalized after extensive discussions with my director of photography, rooted in the film's core worldview. I envisioned the childhood and adult storylines not as sequential events, but parallel, coexisting timelines unfolding simultaneously — past continuous and present continuous running side by side. As the film progresses, the two timelines draw closer, intersecting and merging entirely.

For example, during an argument between adult Li Mingliang and his mother, a knock sounds at the door; the cut reveals young Li standing outside, instantly transporting viewers back twelve years. In another sequence, teenage Li photographs the river beneath a train bridge, and the shot transitions to adult Li capturing the same spot. I aimed to evoke this temporal dislocation: multiple stories unfolding within the same physical space, separated only by time. We landed on this unified visual treatment to amplify the tangled, intertwined quality of past and present.”

Film Still of As the River Goes By

Q7:

As a rising young director receiving widespread acclaim, how will the success of this feature shape your future creative work? Do you plan to continue exploring realistic stories defined by distinctive aesthetic styles?

Director Hu:

“First and foremost, I owe everything to my crew; this film could never have been completed without their dedicated support.

The festival circuit has also been an invaluable learning experience. Conversations with diverse audiences have pushed me beyond instinct-driven creation, teaching me to rationally clarify my core expressive intentions and artistic experiments — this clarity has greatly solidified my creative direction. Moving forward, personal artistic expression will remain a natural core of all my work. I intend to keep telling young people's stories, as I am still young and possess intimate, firsthand understanding of this demographic's emotions and struggles.”

I may develop spin-off narratives centered on other characters from As the River Goes By, such as female lead Song Qian. I hope to explore her life in a large city and her experiences upon returning to her hometown. Telling the story from her perspective would offer a fresh, compelling lens.

Film Still of As the River Goes By

Notes

This conversation with Director Hu left us deeply moved by his delicate observation of life and meticulous refinement of symbolic imagery throughout the film. He weaves personal lived experience into every creative choice: the aftershock device born from the sudden resurfacing of distant memories, and the bold stylistic decision to discard contrasting color grading, letting past and present interweave within a unified visual language. These unconventional artistic choices reveal his uniquely perceptive cinematic vision.

Rivers are far more than geographical landmarks — they become vessels holding the passage of time. We are grateful to Director Hu for guiding us through this journey of memory. As the River Goes By wraps viewers in the hazy dreamcore atmosphere of overlapping timelines, gently reframing the weight of childhood trauma as a path toward self-reconciliation. Much like the Sha River Monster finding redemption through the mermaid's kindness, buried memories ultimately nourish the soul. We look forward to Director Hu continuing to tell intimate, nuanced stories of youth in the years ahead.