take care, till springtime
documentary, 22min, canada, 2025
producer, director, co-writer, cinematographer, editor.
[synopsis]
A queer Chinese medicine practitioner is brutalized at a recent protest.
In the following weeks, a close-knit community of organizers shows up to care for them, like how they always cared for others.
Take Care, Till Springtime documents one example in a long lineage of queer and racialized people who have historically been at the frontlines of resistance, through protest, healing, mutual aid, and collective dreaming.
[credits]
produced, directed, filmed, and edited by Yi Shi.
co-written by Yi Shi and Bill Xu.
featuring Bill Xu and Adrienne Mak.
This documentary is produced as a part of the Documentary Media MFA thesis, at the Toronto Metropolitan University.
With research and education funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
[festival selections]
MAY 2025 · Queer East Festival, London UK
NOV 2025 · Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Toronto [premiere]
[other showcase]
JUNE 2025 · DocNow Festival, MFA graduation thesis showcase, Toronto
a case of care-oriented documentary practice, one that centres somatic experience and relational ethics.
Developed over one year as a thesis project, this film was shaped by extended academic resources and a temporary distance from industry pressures of profit and product. I am grateful for that. There was space for trial and reflection.
It is also accompanied by a 10k+ word dissertation paper on community aid, on-the-ground research, ethical decision-making, and care-based filmmaking. The paper was made private to protect participants, but email me if you'd like to chat about this subject.
In short, I would love to imagine
a place where documentary is not excavation.
The process is emotional, physical, and communal. We allow it to hold greater weight.
We allow the practice itself to become a site of rest, learning, and release, where care becomes a methodology.
If such a model is unsustainable (as it often is),
we might still insist on imagining it.
