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Though trees cannot speak verbally, Evan Luchkow, a 32-year-old Canadian filmmaker, made ancient tea trees the protagonists (主角) in his latest film, The Tree Listens, allowing them to “tell” their story about interacting with the locals in Chashu Village, Southwest China’s Chongqing.

When the Canadian stepped into the village, surprises kept coming. The luxuriant local tea trees are so tall that people need ladders to pick their leaves. The harmonious coexistence of people and nature in the village also struck him. “In Canada, the preservation of nature sometimes keeps people separated from it. On our way into this village, I saw lots of houses cradled by these mountains, which was truly surprising, says Luchkow, adding that the view was just like a postcard.

Soon he was able to set the tone for the filming, which depicts a silent dialogue between trees and people. For thousands of years, from generation to generation, the tea trees have been receiving people’s care and protection. “I think if the trees could speak, they might want to deliver their gratitude to the villagers. That’s what I tried to express via the film,” says the director.

In the process of documenting the tea village’s history, Luchkow found that the well-known Canadian coffee brand Tim Hortons had extended its footprint to Chongqing. Wu Ke, one of the many young locals who choose to stay in their hometown to make tea, finds himself gradually fall in love with coffee too. While local Chinese take to coffee nowadays, Luchkow’s friends back in Canada enjoy Chinese tea a lot. “The communication between tea and coffee is like the exchanges between people,” he says.