Filmmaker: Wu Wenguang
Length: 170 min
Production: 2005
Synopsis
This documentary shows how different young people try to realize their dreams or become famous through the film industry. One of the main characters of this documentary is named Wang, a young man from the countryside, aged at 28. He comes to Beijing out of a love for the cinema; however all he can do every day is line up outside the gate of a film studio in hopes of landing a job as an extra, getting 30RMB for one day! During his stay in Beijing he writes a film script based on his own experience in Beijing as an extra. He thinks his play presents the darkness and desperation of survival in China. Then he wants to find an investor or a director who can produce his play as an “underground film”, because in his opinion many Chinese directors are successful on the international stage by this way. In the process of searching he meets some directors and producers (including some underground film people), some famous some not, and also some businessmen, people from the film censorship authority as well as some students from the cinema institute. In fact in Beijing his life is very hard, no money, no a stable place to sleep. In the summer he has to sleep on the roof of a school dormitory. Finally Wang fails to realize his dream, never will he see his film made…
Wu Wenguang, Born in 1956, Yunna. His documentaries: Bumming in Beijing (1990), My Time in Red Guard(1993), At Home in the World(1995), Jiang Hu: Life on the Road(1999), Dance with Farm Workers(2001), Your Name is Outlander(2003), Fuck Cinema(2005)
Student’s short films/New Media Art, China Fine Art Academy, Beijing Film Academy, Yunnan Art Academy,etc.