Director ZHOU Chengzhou

Producer LI Yujun

Main person SHAMA Wusan, SHAMA Wuniu, WANG Ying, SHAMA Jiaqiang, SHAMA Wujia

Cinematographer/Editor ZHOU Chengzhou

Runtime: 24m 57s

IMDb:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38349185

Director Statement

In this documentary, the central recurring image is a dead pig drifting along a flowing river. In Chinese culture, pigs symbolize wealth; a dead pig, rotting on the water’s surface, evokes the loss of once-cherished wealth, faith, and hope. Though her father’s love has faded into the past, the water continues to flow—embodying the resilience of life, the passage of time, and an unstoppable vitality. Like the river itself, the little girl carries on with an unyielding, vibrant spirit.

The film follows a young Yi ethnic girl and her friends in Xide County, a remote mountainous area in western Sichuan. In the post-pandemic era, their world has not stood still. Above the ground, the water veins still run; life continues to search for a way forward.

Through the girls’ daily games, moments of confusion, and shared dreams, we witness a small yet unyielding force of life. The dead pig will inevitably decay, but the water — gentle yet steadfast — never stops flowing.

This is a story about loss and continuation, and a record of how children in the marginalized mountain regions of China continue to grow.

Trailer 

Documentary

Runtime: 87mins

Director: Zhou Chengzhou, Wang Xin

IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29253198

Trailer  https://vimeo.com/992396518?share=copy

Plot:

This residential area in the Haidian District of Beijing called Guajia Tun, with a history of over 600 years, was demolished in the midst of the rapid development of the times. It is the place where an ancient Chinese general, Yang Liulang, dismounted his armour and prepared for battle. This is also the origin of the village’s name. In its place, apart from its history, it may be more modern, more fit contemporary aesthetics and more in keeping with its current location. In the year 2022, there are some stories about the people who live here.

Producer Yanna Wu/Zhou Chengzhou

Writer Cong Cong /Da Fan /Li Dapeng /Nai Youmi /Sa Mao /Shi Ya /Xue Zhu /Yu Xi /You Guang /Zhang Yuezhong /zoe /Zhou Chengzhou

Star Cong Cong Da Fan Li Dapeng Nai Youmi Sa Mao Shi Ya Xue Zhu Yu Xi You Guang Zhang Yuezhong zoe

Cinematographer Zhou Chengzhou

Editor Zhou Chengzhou

Effects production Cong Cong

Mins:3h 30mins  210mins

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27831400/

Trailer 

Storyline

The number of women choosing to live independently in China has increased significantly in recent years, reflecting the changing social dynamics and evolving gender roles. Rapid urbanisation and rapid economic development in China have contributed to a shift in gender roles, leading to an increase in the number of women living alone. Living alone also represents a form of empowerment and autonomy.

This film tells the stories of eleven ordinary women living alone, from different parts of China, with different personalities and different cultural identities, filmed before the end of the epidemic in China (before November 2022), each of whom also participated in the film as co-writers, telling their own stories in their own languages.

They are like beautiful irises blooming in the land of China.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22756522

Director/Writer: Zhou Chengzhou

I accidentally intruded into the lives of people who were leaving, and I didn’t know where they had gone. When they were gone, I saw that these concrete structures that once had life in them were now absurd and cold little grids, like a towering coffin. So I kept a part of them that once existed in their lives. Giving them a new place to go.

Director/Writer: Zhou Chengzhou

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21211934/

In most parts of China, some inanimate devices make a kind of low roar, like a noise, to attract people’s attention.

The inorganic objects themselves cannot make a sound, the director creates a relationship, a connection with the inorganic objects through himself, an organic object, and the director makes those inorganic objects make their own sound through this particular way.

Interview

Director/Writer: Zhou Chengzhou

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjJpEK3yIfA

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19409272

This is adapted from a true story that happened in China. It tells the story of a woman living alone in the contemporary context of China. The protagonist is Xiaomei. She came to the big city of Beijing alone from her hometown and worked and lived in her own unique and free way. She encountered many unexpected contradictions and conflicts in the process of work and life.

This film presents the story of a real woman living alone. Where is her last way? What is her real living state like? I hope that through this film, people can see the living conditions of those minority women from different angles, and try to use the way of film to explore the real situation and real mentality of Chinese women in the contemporary context of Chinese society.

Part of the film is in the form of real record, and the other part is presented in the form of real story adaptation.

In China, it was only around 2000 that the gender perspective was incorporated into all kinds of sociological research. The director tries to do some free discussion through the prominent social sensitive issues of women in the film, such as employment, women’s rights and freedom, marriage and family. This is a true story. This woman is one of the awakening of self-consciousness of a large number of Chinese women. She is one of the new free women. She hopes to realize the desire of de sexualization through economic independence and ideological independence. It is also a struggle against the traditional concept of women, but her work is not recognized by the society, but also a marginal work. But to fight in her way and work in her way to survive, the director also wants to explain from some less well-known angles that women present the real living state of a few women in the contemporary context of China with their work content and life attitude, but often women still need a long way to obtain relative equality in society, In the film, there are too many unequal attitudes of the public towards women’s rights and freedom. The director tries to convey the view of women’s freedom in this way. The protagonist actively pursues women’s own independence and the desire to follow their own choices in life.

Star: Liu Junli, Li Yuan, Chen Chen, Wangguoqing, Zhang Run, Gao Yunzi, Wang Yike, Zhao Yuanjie, Zhou Chengzhou, Hu Danya

Director/Writer: Zhou Chengzhou

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/505527407

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14012284/

This is the second part of Conscious Desire Trilogy series. The first film is called Sub-subconscious. It mainly expresses people’s appearance and inner world in the form of subconsciousness.

The second part is Called Unreflex Land, which means that it is a place without reflection, including physical reflection and human consciousness reflection. It’s like being driven forward by some kind of consciousness. Zhou Chengzhou, who tries to explore the New-Humanity and New-Possibility of the unknown space through a channel without reflection in his heart.

When the master wakes up, he finds that he is in a strange space, which is full of all kinds of sounds. He didn’t know how he got to this place. He keeps running, and then a series of mysterious events happen in this space, which makes him unable to distinguish between nothingness and reality…

Trailer: https://youtu.be/TofnJqghG5Q

Movie: https://www.nowness.asia/story/sub-subconscious

31min / drama

The movie is divided into five parts, each part expresses the subconscious in different forms. It is mainly in the form of subconscious to show people’s appearance and inner world. In reality, it is difficult to have such a form. The film also combines some actual cases. Only in the brain, perhaps in mental illness, can it take shape and convey different personalities and ideologies of different people.

These ideologies take place in cities, rural areas and developed areas. These estrangements are often hidden. They either hide passively or actively. The alienated subconscious is hidden in those unknown corners, often unknown, and these subconscious are not willing to be opened by the general form. Sometimes these ideologies seem to be very normal, even like normal people, but these ideologies have fears and splits that normal people cannot feel. These psychological activities are usually related to physiological factors, mental factors and pathological factors.

Maybe one day the film will help these alienated people return to their real normal state in some gentle and unique way