My Village in 2006 (Zhang Huancai)
Zhang Huancai | 2007 | 90 min. | English subtitles
Synopsis:
Zhang culled this film from over one hundred hours of footage. We see the ups and downs, habits and rituals of his village. Zhang shares with us moments from his personal life as well. He bickers, teases, fights with his wife about the future.
Director’s Statement:
Chickens always find their way to food. Smart or hard-working chickens are well fed, as are their offspring. I think farmers are like chickens. They have to find food every day and the smart and diligent ones get on top. I myself am a chicken who isn’t content with just eating. Apart from my life as the breadwinner, I dream of indulging myself in high-brow literature and digital filmmaking. I am not well fed as a result, nor am I able to provide a good standard of living for my wife and child. My wife always complains that I do not know where I belong and some villagers believe my dreams are too lofty. There must be a few people in every village that won’t abandon their dreams. They may choose to focus on calligraphy and art or on dramas and literature. Since they too devote all their energy to looking for food they must not be well fed either. When I film I try to express what life means to us dreamers in the countryside. I would like also to show how hard it is for us chickens, regardless if we are well fed or underfed, to find our food. This was my starting place for making My Village in 2006.
About the Filmmaker:
Zhang Huancai was born in 1960 in Shijiazhai Village in Shaanxi Province. He is a farmer who occasionally leaves his village to find work in the city. Zhang enjoys literature and writing and has the reputation of being “the man of letters” in his village. Zhang learned to use a video camera when he joined the Villager Documentary Project in 2005. He has since become the most diligent of the ten villager filmmakers. He has made a short documentary called A Nullified Election. His long documentaries are: My Village 2006, My Village 2007, My Village 2008, My Village 2009.
| Information | |
| Online Viewing | Yes |
| Available Subtitle | English , Chinese |
| Length | 90 mins |
| Production Year | 2007 |
Write a review
Your Name:Your Review: Note: HTML is not translated!
Rating: Bad Good
Enter the code in the box below:
| FORMATS | PRICE | REMARKS |
|---|---|---|
| DVD (Colleges, Universities, Institutions) | $300 | |
| Video on Demand (Home) | $19.99 | Monthly subscription to watch(more than 30 documentaries,unlimited online viewing within 30 days from purchase date) |
| $5 | Watch one filmValid for 48 hours |