"Life is funnier than you think"

Social pressure, professional strains, and emotional tension come together in Viv Li’s personal and disarmingly humorous portrait of herself at a crossroads. Witty and visually arresting, her feature documentary debut finds the universal in individual issues and vice versa while meditating on identity, insecurity, and ideals. Just a couple of weeks after premiering at the Berlinale and MoMA’s ND/NF forum, Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest comes to Visions du Réel’s main competition. Before heading to her next screening in New York, the Chinese filmmaker based in Berlin spoke with Lidanoir about the detailed development process, the challenges aspiring filmmakers face, and finding the humor in everyday events.