Two Mountains Weighing Down My ChestTwo Mountains Weighing Down My Chest

A documentary essay in which filmmaker Viv Li moves between family expectations in China and Berlin’s queer and artistic scene while trying to belong.

Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest is a personal documentary essay by director Viv Li. Beijing-born Li lives in Berlin, where she got stuck after the pandemic and drifted into the city’s queer and alternative scene. Her family in China has a pressing question: why is she such an oddball, and why is she still single? The film moves between Berlin nightlife, family dinners in Beijing and late-night conversations in New York. It contrasts the traditional expectations of Li’s family with the unstructured life she finds in Berlin’s LGBTQ and artistic communities. Li turns the camera on herself and speaks with relatives and friends from the Berlin queer scene as she tries to belong in places that expect different things from her. The film cuts between Beijing, New York, Venice and Berlin.

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