attic presents: Chinese Short Film Program #2
Rehearsal for Rest
For this edition, we want to collectively explore the concept of “rest” through a program of short films and group activities.Rehearsal for Rest responds to a common experience: the inability to pause. Even when we stop working, part of us is still checking messages, thinking about what’s next, or trying to catch up. We all long to slow down, yet in practice rest can feel unnatural, even performative. Meditation, wellness, and self-care often turn rest into another task. As the year comes to an end, we invite you to step back from the everyday rush and consider what rest might feel like again.
Alongside the screening, we’ve prepared a booklet with film notes, reflections, and small games / exercises. You can explore it whenever you like, during or after the event. In the intermission, we’ll invite those who wish to try a few exercises together, but you’re free to simply take the break for yourself.
The title of the program is inspired by Phil Solomon’s film Rehearsals for Retirement (2007), created within the digital world of GTA. In this work, Solomon departs from the tactile world of celluloid and enters a dematerialized, simulated space where light, texture, and gravity dissolve into something dreamlike. In a similar spirit, our program moves between fiction and reality, between presence and disappearance.
Program Schedule
15:00 Doors open
15:30 Introduction
15:40 Screening Part 1
16:15 Intermission / Group activity
16:40 Screening Part 2
17:30 Closing activity
Film Lineup
00:00 A.M. | Yuanshen Yang | 2022 | 3mins | No dialogues | Dutch premiere
At 23:59, a white-collar worker, who has been working overtime for days on end, finally arrived home.
even if you want to go wherever you want to go it will leave regrets | Tianqi Tang | 2023 | 22mins17s | CN with EN subs | World premiere
*According to the filmmaker, the film’s synopsis drifted into the Moroccan black market with the computer he left behind in Casablanca.*
Night Breezes | Liangqi Yao | 2025 | 7mins43s | No dialogues | Dutch premiere
A late-night walk through London, drawn again and again to the city’s glow.
Les Choses Venues | Ziyang Wang | 2024 | 12mins17s | FR with CN+EN subs | European premiere
Anne travels alone to Auvergne after a strange diagnosis. A friend comes to visit her, and a conversation unfolds.
Chroma | Yunyi Zhu | 2024 | 7mins48s | EN with CN+EN subs | European premiere
Tilda Swinton, boating in the luminous, colorful Kunming Lake, tells us about Jarman’s last film Blue, and his poem Chroma, written during the same period, in a garden by the sea.
Family Images | Yang Li | 2024 | 28mins38s | CN with CN+EN subs | European premiere
Three skateboarding teens start a shared life. On moving day: a crash, a breakup, a stray cat—and a new chapter begins.
About attic
Founded in Amsterdam, attic is a community-oriented platform for moving images and artistic exchange. Follow us on Instagram for updates (@attic.ams).
Check out our previous program here
