Retired racing driver & racing documentary director
Five years ago, rally champion Shen Ye lost his partner in an accident. With scars and secrets all over his body, he lived in seclusion in the "Wild Trail B&B" in the mountains. He locked the trophy in a cabinet and hid the car wreckage in a warehouse, letting the memory of the track become dusty in time.
Five years later, documentary director Wen You came to the door with an old camera. She did not take pictures of active drivers, but was only dedicated to salvaging those "forgotten racing stories." Shen Ye, the "most unfortunate talented driver", was the last stop on her list. She stayed in a B&B in the name of filming, and the camera secretly focused on him: the back of him carrying a measuring instrument into the mountains in the early morning, the trembling fingertips when stroking the old helmet, the focused silhouette marking the curves on the track drawing...
One tries hard to hide, the other tries hard to find. Wen You's camera touches Shen Ye's restricted area again and again, from the fierce argument when he was discovered, to the accidental glimpse of his vulnerability as he stared at the photos of the accident; from his silence when he refused to mention his partner, to Wen You's unexpected discovery of an unsent condolence letter hidden in the corner of the B&B. When the scenes in the camera gradually pieced together the truth of the accident, and when Wen You's persistence began to loosen Shen Ye's dusty memories, the two finally understood: the so-called "tracing back to the wild" was never a one-way pursuit - Wen You was tracing back to Shen Ye's past, and Shen Ye was also looking back at the self that he dared not face in her lens.
This is a story about memory and redemption. The wind in the mountains and fields will blow away the dust, and the light and shadow under the lens can illuminate the silence. Those thoughts hidden in old helmets and track marks will eventually find the courage to be listened to on the way back to the wilderness.
Purpose: Learn to reconcile with yourself