# Between Before and After

- Date: 2026-06-11
- Type: film
- Credit: Sifang Chen & Yang Wang
- Genre: Drama
- Artists: [Sifang Chen](https://aifilmhistory.org/artist/sifang-chen), [Yang Wang](https://aifilmhistory.org/artist/yang-wang)
- Award: Merit — Runway AIFF 2026 — Runway AI Film Festival 2026
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax3F-J2cJ0w
- URL: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/between-before-and-after

Kyoko sees her ex-lover Nagao on a billboard and finds her again. What binds them is a shared emptiness rather than love, a desire that never satisfies, and when Nagao proposes one last plunge, reality breaks in and leaves a rupture where past and future can no longer be told apart. A moody Japanese-language breakup story, in Bloomberg's words, and a Merit winner at [Runway's 2026 AI Festival](https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/aiff-2026). At the Tokyo screening Yang Wang said AI had cut costs but not changed the essence of directing.

Links:
- AI didn't ruin these films, it made them possible, in Bloomberg (via BusinessWorld): https://bworldonline.com/bloomberg/2026/08/07/768577/ai-didnt-ruin-these-films-it-made-them-possible/

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Source: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/between-before-and-after
Era: Early 2026 · The Shakeout
Last updated: 2026-10-19