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Chinese Independent Documentary :
CIDFA039:
PaiGu
Director/ Photography/ Editor/ Producer: Gaoming Liu
Length: 100 min
Production Year: 2006
Synopsis:
The story is talking about a junior high school graduate named Pai Gu. He is from Jiangxi Province, selling pirate DVDs in Shenzhen to make a living.It is rather cynical that he sells only "artistic films".He knows everything about those masters and their masterpieces. However, he has never seen one. He said that he possibly would not understand those films because of his poor education background. He could only understand those which were reflecting average person's everyday life. He likes soap opera like Ma Dashuai. He likes Mr. Stephen Chow, one popular film star, and he also likes some popular songs like Two Butterflies. He likes pretty girls too. He has always been expecting a romance. On the other hand, he tried to convince himself that people like him, who came from village without any educational background, had no chance to have his own true love.
Festivals and awards:
Documentary Forum 2006, Caochangdi Workstation, Beijing Canada HOTDOC Festival, 2006
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, 2006
"REEL CHINA -- Documentary Biennial 2006" (October -November 2006, New York , Boston, Los Angeles, USA )
17TH SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL,2007
Director's Statement:
About Chop and Me I was born in a very small county where the economy is poor and the information is insufficient. I yearned towards the outside world when I was young. After graduation from college, I had no hesitation to leave the county and went to the developed city?Shenzhen. Through a few years' effort, my life has become more comfortable. However, my enthusiasm disappeared gradually. I often leaned on the window aimlessly and looked at the tall buildings and vehicles outside. I couldn't find my own position.
It is incidental for me to shoot Chop. I was touched by his attitude towards love and the vivid descriptions as well as his hard work. At that moment, it seems to me that I had seen the past of my own. Every one has an unforgettable story, but the story is easily forgotten.
I decide to take up the treasure at home (namely, home video). I am sure that Chop is actually about my story that thousands of poorly-born bothers and sisters share. I shoot Chop without other purposes but just to recall my past. No past, No nowadays.
This is so simple that we don't pay any attention to it. It is my first time to take up the video and learn film editing. It is a difficult job. But, when I sit before TV and watch my own work for the first time, I feel suddenly that I am so close to film.