Infinite Infants (2024)

5m 23s | Experimental | English

When the goddess of life embraces the love of humanity, she relinquishes her immortality. She imparts the wisdom of spirituality and reincarnation to human beings, and together they walk to the other side.

Statement

This film is inspired by the live performance of Zhixuan Zhu and Nicole Schwartz in 2023. The original 40-minute performance is based on the interpretation of Buddhist mythology on reincarnation. “People have previous lives and might live with entirely different identities, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and physical forms, such as bodies, voices, and looks. Yet, every previous life is erased from the memories of the deceased when they reincarnate at the River Styx. To cross the river, they have to drink a bowl of Mengpo soup that obliterates all the memories. However, Infinite Infant believes that people still carry the traces of previous lives in their deep souls and can mobilize their bodies in movements for evocation.”

This dance film highlights the affection between two female spirits in the original work. By bringing embodied movement into a non-theater environment, the film allows the body to transition freely between the spiritual and real worlds, bridging the realms of the living and the dead. Through the voice of the goddess and the evocative sounds of the underworld, we are guided to experience various forms of life, ultimately freeing ourselves from physical bodies and emotions in the process of reincarnation.