When

A global lockdown brought on by an unflinching, unpredictable, and isolating pandemic created a collective and universal experience: separation from friends, family, and partners.

In When, Chinese Australian musician, composer, and performer Mindy Meng Wang creates a poignant and emotional audio-visual meditation on family, memories, and life in times of great change. With musicians Anita Quayle and Daniel Jenatsch, Mindy shares personal, undisclosed stories between her hometown of Lanzhou, Wuhan and her new home of Melbourne, humanising the profound upheaval that comes from a worldwide pandemic.

The ancient guzheng, electric cello, and synthesizer provide a powerful music response to footage collected by Chinese and Australian filmmakers, delving deeply into our shared feelings of love, regret, fear, desire, and relief that emerge despite barriers of race, distance, or culture.