7 Beats per Minute

1 hr 20 mins | English, Chinese | Canada | Yuqi Kang

7 Beats Per Minute takes us into the life and underwater world of Jessea Lu, the first Chinese female freediving champion. With intimate, cinéma vérité camerawork, stunning underwater moments and Director, Yuqi Kang’s, unique, personal voice, we travel together with Jessea on her unwavering journey to become a world champion. In 2021, we continued to follow Jessea to see how the pandemic shifted her perspectives on happiness and family and witnessed an unbreakable bond developing between Jessea and the storyteller. In 2022, we follow Jessea’s return to the world freediving stage. More than a straightforward sports film, 7 Beats Per Minute tells a complex, nuanced, immersive tale of this unique sport as experienced by the athlete and witnessed by the filmmaker; a film that takes us into the psyche of a freediver–a young woman who aims for unparalleled achievement as a bold, independent professional in a world vastly different than where she came from.

SXSW South by Southwest 2024, World Premiere

Hot Docs 2024