The Shaft (Dixia De Tiankong)

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1 Page 1 of 1 Directed by Mandarin, with subtitles in English China, 2008, 98 minutes STORY The Shaft (Dixia De Tiankong) Logline: In three intertwined stories, a father, son and daughter fight to hold onto hope and family as they face the harsh realities of life in a poor western Chinese mining town. Synopsis: In a poor mining town in western China, the stories of a father and his two children intersect and intertwine, illuminating complicated relationships hidden beneath the community s hardened exterior. Accused of an affair with her manager, the attractive daughter of the household finds herself spurned by her boyfriend and forced to accept an arranged marriage. Her brother dreams of being a singer, but after an unforeseen stint in prison, reluctantly heads into the mines like his father, who spends his days searching for the wife who left him many years ago. Writer-director s wise and poetic debut delicately expresses the turmoil of emotion and expectation wrought by a calloused and difficult existence. CAST Ding Baogen Song Daming Ding Jingshui Ding Jingsheng Luo Deyuan Li Chen Zheng Louqian Huang Xuan CREDITS Director Writer Executive Producers Producers Administrative Producers Co-Producers Associate Producers Li Xiaoyan Wang Xian Zhou Fan Zhongyun Hu Guipu Kang Jianmin Xu Bailin Tao Xingrui Liu Xiuwen Hu Guipu Zhang Daogang Wang Yijie Liu Xinglun

2 Cinematographer Editors Music Distributed by The Global Film Initiative ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: ZHANG CHI Guo Sai Liu Shumin Guo Sida Page 2 of 2 was born in Beijing, China in He studied film direction at the Central Academy of Drama, and served as the director of the Chinese national television company CCTV from 2000 to In 2008, he won China s Golden Rooster Award for Best Screenplay for the film Tokyo Trial. The Shaft is his first feature film. DIRECTOR S STATEMENT Coal miners life is difficult for ordinary people to understand. I was shocked when I saw the coal miners life in the mountainous area in western China for the first time. Everyone has his own ideal regardless of his standing and race. However, the ideal always conflicts with the reality. The three leading characters in the movie all want to change their lives. However life is hard. People might not win the struggle against their destiny, but they would understand the life during the struggle. Life never stops, and all will fade away... ABOUT THE FILM: THE SHAFT REVIEWS The first feature from the young Chinese director, The Shaft (Dixia de Tiankong) feels as though it were made by a very old soul. Tight and tender, this small family drama is so visually expressive that listening is always subordinate to looking Tackling major issues the country s catastrophic shortage of women, the improbability of economic rescue in a minor key, The Shaft is a triptych of imprisoned desire. New York Times An impressively controlled debut from helmer-scribe Achieving eloquence with minimal dialogue, [The Shaft's] small but gripping dramas unfold more through repeated images, masterful composition, framing and sound design. Painterly cinematography and gritty production design lead an excellent tech package. Music (traditional and contempo) is used sparingly but evocatively, while the leading perfs are understated but convey the characters' yearning no less powerfully for it. Variety A superb debut, achingly gorgeous, this is a case of caged insiders yearning for the fresh air of free-range outsiders Graceful camera movements and striking compositions offset the dungeon that controls their life. Each time the elevator shaft descends, another layer of their dreams disappears. indiewire Stark melancholia achieves a rare authenticity, perhaps most pointedly manifested in the

3 Page 3 of 3 objective correlative of the mineshaft itself The intermittent genius of director resides in how he juxtaposes this social claustrophobia with scenes of refreshing but elegiac liberation. Slant Magazine Wonderfully acted Like the industry that plunges deep below the delicate but scarred countryside, The Shaft plumbs its characters seemingly stoic surfaces to unveil the turmoil of emotions and desires beneath. MoMA An unflinching, unshakable portrait of rural Chinese life in a broken economy, The Shaft meditates on the indignities and resolve of a powerless working class. Time Out New York Beautifully shot a meditative examination of the decaying social and economic structure in rural China an intense, rewarding, uneasy experience from an extremely talented young filmmaker. This Week in New York Chi directs these declining fortunes not as loud implosions but as quiet atrophy; the Dings are dying the proverbial death of a thousand paper cuts, and Chi lingers on their inner turmoil using surprisingly tranquil imagery As bleak as this may all sound, Chi offers a quietly hopeful tale, one that elicits empathy rather than sympathy for the Ding family. The shaft may pull at their fortunes but they refuse to bury their ambitions down within. -Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The Shaft doesn t resign itself to criticism or unnecessary heroics. Its frank presentation and comfort with the everyday allows the film to shine against the uninviting futures that face the men and women from Chinese mining towns. -Seattle International Film Festival FESTIVALS AND AWARDS 2009 Official Selection, BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, LOS ANGELES PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, SILK SCREEN ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTICAL Official Selection, TRENTON FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, GASPARILLA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Contemporary World Cinema Selection, SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Shown at New Directors/New Films Series, FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER 2008 Special Jury Award. MARRAKECH FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Window on Asian Cinema Selection, PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, GOA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

4 Page 4 of 4 Official Selection, MIDDLE EAST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, TURIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, HAMBURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, VALENCIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, VALDIVIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, ROME ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, BERGIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, EAST LONDON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, SAN PAULO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection, CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection and Grand Prix Nominee, GHENT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Official Selection and Crystal Globe Nominee, KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Best Director Award and Silver Prize, BOGOTA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 1 st Junior Jury Award, LYON ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL Jury Award, DEAUVILLE ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL NETPAC Jury Award, TALLINN BLACK NIGHTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: THE GLOBAL FILM INITIATIVE The Shaft is part the Global Lens film series and can be seen through public screenings of Global Lens 2010 at participating venues across the United States and Canada. After 2010, The Shaft and all Global Lens 2010 films, will be available in home video, television, educational, internet and airline markets. The Global Film Initiative is a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization specializing in the support of independent film from Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Founded in 2002 to promote cross-cultural understanding through the language of cinema, the Initiative awards numerous grants to deserving filmmakers from around the world each year, and supports a touring film series entitled Global Lens. For more information about the Global Lens film series or Global Film Initiative programs, please use the following links: Global Lens 2010 Global Film Initiative programs /calendar.php /programs.htm Contact: The Global Film Initiative 145 Ninth Street, Suite 105

5 San Francisco, CA Phone: (415) Fax: (415) Page 5 of 5

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PRESS KIT THE STORY OF 90 COINS. AN ELEGANT, EXQUISITE ROMANCE. - FILM SCHOOL REJECTS ITS NINE MINUTES PUTS TWO-HOUR ROMANCES TO SHAME. - DON SHANAHAN, CHICAGO INDEPENDENT FILM CRITICS CIRCLE IT LL REMIND