The Apple Doesn’t Fall…

Words are barely relevant in The Apple Doesn’t Fall...

Instead, inter-personal relationships, social expectations and the dynamics of the household are conveyed most prominently through the movement of the body. Directed by Dean Wei and incredibly choreographed by Shiyu Liu, The Apple Doesn’t Fall… explores a complex and serious issue through a kinetic, funny ballet that revels in its restrictions and combines contemporary dance with the visual language of Chinese hand scrolls. The film premiered at the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam and was deservedly recognised as one of the winners of the Tiger Shorts Competition.

The film takes place within the single level home of a father (Tao Cui), mother (Niannian Zhou) and their teenage daughter (Xie Ziling) as they revolve around it each other, following their own routines that brush against one another or even collide only occasionally. Conversation is disjointed, dialogue spoken aloud but not received or responded to. The way they interact reveals subtle aggressions or dislocations in the family structure – the correcting of one another’s actions, their apparent confinement to their specified zones of the home, the daughter’s evident feeling of being stifled in this airless fragmented milieu.

All of this is conveyed brilliantly by Shiyu Liu’s choreography that was developed in tandem with the performers who put their own mark on their characters. Aside from a single scene in which the characters sit for a family photo – a comic triumph in itself – the camera pans back and forth along the length of the apartment, with the spaces in the house arranged so as it create vertical and horizontal zones, laying the space out as it is is two-dimensional. It’s a work embedded in Chinese art – and which makes very specific points about Chinese society and culture – but which also translate wonderfully to universal questions of the reality behind the façade of the family and what it means to be going through the motions.

Director, editing, music: Dean Wei
Cast: Tao Cui, Niannian Zhou, Xie Ziling
Screenplay: Dean Wei, Shiyu Liu
Producer: Jia qi Liu
Choreography: Shiyu Liu
Cinematography: Zhaoheng Qu, Adrien Chung
Production design: Tian Xie, Ziming Wang
Sound: Yun Xie
Production companies: NOWNESS China, THE O EYE (China)
Venue: International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) (Tiger Short Competition)
In Chinese
19 minutes