Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest

Official Selection, 2026 Berlin International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2026 Visions du Reel
Official Selection, 2026 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Fumbling through boxes and plastic sheeting in a fluorescently-lit basement with a lopsided camera…this is not Backrooms but the real life of Viv Li sneaking out of her quarantine room in 2020 China.

A candid and at times hilarious autobiographical documentary, Viv juggles life between Europe and China, living in a Berlin culture of naked experimental performances and desert colonies and returning home to Beijing as a true misfit in the eyes of her family: vegan, single in her 30s, and confusingly political. Through laughter and tears, smoke and songs (some sung by Viv herself), Li captures an entire generation of young nomads living overseas by fortune, choice (whose?), or lack of either.

TWO MOUNTAINS WEIGHING DOWN MY CHEST’s kaleidoscope of comedic encounters asks many questions with few answers about finding identity in a globalized and patently absurd world, especially when one choice ultimately puts a young person at bewildering odds with another. As our guide, Li is neither fazed or tortured. She explores a bicultural life with openness, curiosity, and a sly smile.