Family, Memory, and the Architecture of Everyday Life
Friday, May 8, 2026, 2:00 p.m.: Screening of Zhou Jiali’s film »Raindrops on a Roof« (2025)
In collaboration with the Chinese Film Festival Hamburg and the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, the Warburg-Haus presents the film Raindrops on a Roof (雨落屋瓦) by Chinese director Zhou Jiali. The film, which celebrated its successful premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (Korea) in September 2025, was selected for the 16th Beijing International Film Festival (Forward Future) as well as the Imagine India International Film Festival 2026.
Synopsis: A’e, a widow in her late sixties, lives with her unmarried son Shi’an. When her recently divorced daughter Shining returns home with a child, an invisible burden settles over the family. One cold winter, A’e is cheated while trying to buy a cashmere sweater—and this incident shatters the hidden grief of the old house, forcing every family member to confront what they thought they had long buried.
Following the screening, director Zhou Jiali will join Uwe Fleckner (University of Hamburg) and Yuning Teng (Freie Universität Berlin) for a discussion in English moderated by Ruby Chen (China Academy of Art, Hangzhou), focusing on family, memory, and the architecture of everyday life.
Zhou Jiali: Raindrops on a Roof (雨落屋瓦), China: 2025, 106 minutes
