Spiral Staircase of Harbin

Ji Dan’s documentary about the daughters of a dirt-poor family living among Beijing scrap heaps, and their ferocious determination to get an education, is exhilarating, heart breaking, life affirming, shocking, despairing and ecstatic, all at once.

For years he has stayed behind closed doors without leaving his home, uttering nothing to anyone. The desire to communicate and the energy to act have completely vanished, and the opportunity to change is dim and distant. This is an attempt by the filmmaker to reappraise the relationship between himself and the world through external observation and self-reflection.

There are various pressures in Kampot's life. For example, he hopes that his wife will help him to have a son after six consecutive daughters; he is upset by the bank loan he owes for buying a tractor, and he is also worried about working outside. The son was not disappointed with the big money ... However, Kampot will not be overwhelmed by these troubles. Because life brought him many good friends, pleasant sunshine and quiet nights, under the blue clouds of the Tibetan plateau, spring harvest and autumn harvest, occasionally drinking and gambling with friends, and chanting songs, although the days are not rich, but they can find fun. When his wife finally gave birth to another son, Kampot gratefully praised nature and life from the bottom of his heart.

"Baya in the Zhuang language means 'grandmother.' At the end of 2012, I attended a charity lecture in Beijing about left-behind children, where I heard the story of Baya and the grandchildren she raised. In early 2013, I arrived at the village of Debie, set in a mountain pass, where Baya lived. I stayed at Baya's house. At that time, I was going through the breakdown of an intimate relationship and found myself at a personal low point in middle age. I was curious about how Baya had survived so many hardships and continued to provide shade, shelter, and warmth like a big tree for her grandchildren and the lives around her. During the year and eight months I spent with Baya, I unknowingly underwent a transformation. Not only did my body become stronger, but my inner self also became more open and free. Through Baya, I came to understand the resilience and strength of the human spirit, which remains unaltered by any amount of suffering — a testament to the noble dignity of human nature."

A very special event that took place immediately following the 2009 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Furuyashiki Village. They held a ‘dojo,’ a school where the veteran independent filmmakers from Japan taught the younger generation of independent filmmakers from China and Japan. They watched films, shot and hand-developed Super-8 films. Participants: Azuma Mieko, Cong Feng, Huang Weikai, Ji Dan, Kawabe Ryota, Mao Chenyu, Sato Leo, and others... The participants formed teams. Each received a camera, several rolls of film, and a CD with (mostly urban) sounds to use as a soundtrack. They were to plan and shoot a short film using in-camera editing. (total 4 short films).

In the mid-1980s, a dozen old people in Old Latse Village in Shigatse, Tibet, voluntarily organized the reconstruction of the Gyang Temple, which was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. With the assistance of villagers, the reconstruction took 10 years. In 1995, they had admitted new members and founded a Mani Association. These old people chant Mani collectively for three days every month. In addition, following the ancient practice in the village, they pray for the safety of the villagers by piously worshiping the gods and making offerings to ghosts. But their ultimate purpose is to support any member to complete their final life journey by organizing a vigil and attending his or her funeral.

An old man in hospice care tells his life story from beginning to end, of Peking Opera and singer Ma Lianliang, and of the humiliation and desperation of old age. Soon, the border between dreams and memories, reality and mental confusion become indistinct; the old man is slipping away, falling into the depths of his soul. Is it the shadow of death that disturbs his rest? Who is he? What kind of life did he lead?