Avant le déluge
Lin Liao-Yi
1999 - 52 min - Betacam SP - Couleur - France

The film-maker of this film decided to go to China, to the region of the Three Gorges, with her mother and her daughter. Her mother had not seen this region since 1957. This is a back to roots journey. Five years have passed since the inauguration of work on the Three Gorges dam. Villages and landscapes risk being drowned in the waters of the great river. Lin Liao-Yi wants to show her daughter this China and its heritage before it disappears into oblivion. It is also an opportunity to get closer to her mother.
Without permission she sets off to meet the Chinese who tell her their feelings and their thoughts. After a journey of one month, their boat is stopped by floods. Will there be others, contrary to what the authorities claim ?