Review: A Soil A Culture A River A People – Viv Li’s Haunting 16mm Exploration of Memory and Identity

Zezhi Long as Citizen Yu in Viv Li’s A Soil A Culture A River A People, a 16mm meditation on memory and belonging.

In today’s festival circuit, short films are no longer just calling cards—they’re often fully realized concepts, proof-of-ideas that hint at larger worlds waiting to be explored.Viv Li's A Soil, A Culture, A River, A People is one of those rare works that instantly feels expansive, despite its short runtime.

Premiering in competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the film immerses us in a dystopian vision where society has collapsed and cultural memory itself is at risk of extinction. Li, a Chinese filmmaker raised in Beijing and seasoned by 15 years across Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia, builds a world where even nostalgia must be artificially simulated.

We follow Citizen Yu (played by the magnetic Zezhi Long), who lives in a fractured future where the only way to experience the past is through simulated reconstructions. One such simulation fixates on Hanover, Germany in the 1980s—a heady blend of punk rock, Bundesliga football, beer-soaked nights, and the red-light district. Through Citizen Y’s perspective, we glimpse fragments of Western culture preserved like artifacts, warped through distance and memory.

Shot on 16mm film, the short’s tactile texture is nothing short of breathtaking. The format amplifies both the raw immediacy of Citizen Yu’s journey and the haunting distance between what once was and what remains. By the time Lee peels back the simulation to reveal Citizen Yu’s true reality, the contrast lands with staggering weight: this world has fallen so far from even the most ordinary images of the past.

What makes A Soil, A Culture, A River, A People remarkable is its balance of concept and emotion. It poses questions as sharply as it presents images: Why Hanover? Why the 1980s? Why this fixation on Western culture? While not every answer is supplied, Li’s refusal to over-explain is part of the film’s allure. The gaps invite viewers to lean in, to speculate, and to feel the ache of cultural dislocation.

At 12+ minutes, the short could arguably trim a few minutes without losing impact. But its ambition—its yearning to live larger than its frame—suggests it may be a seed for something more. Whether as a standalone short or the foundation of a feature, Viv Li’s vision marks her as a filmmaker to watch.

Rating: 4.5/5

A visually stunning, thematically rich short that blends Asian and German cultural memory into a haunting meditation on identity, dislocation, and the ghosts of history.

Written and Directed by Viv Li

Produced by Viv Li, Julian Schwandner

Co-Produced by Marc Goyens, Carlotta Cornehl

Starring Zezhi Long