Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 

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Press conference The Shaft

The Chinese film The Shaft also faces off in the competition for the Crystal Globe this year, dealing with life in an indigent mining region in western China. Director and screenwriter Zhang Chi, star Zheng Luoqian, and producer Hu Guipu came to introduce it. The pictorially articulate film puts forth the narrative of a family in which members are dealing with life’s difficult questions, mainly with the overarching subject of impossibility that comes from their region.

According to the director, the film isn’t specific to China. “It could be set anywhere in the world, maybe even in the Czech Republic,” Zhang said. “It examines human problems, ideals, which one often fails to accomplish.”

The director was born in the very same village, and later as a child moved to Beijing. He decided to make a film about the mining region because he hoped to bring its poverty to life for people elsewhere. “I wanted to create understanding among people in various regions of China and the world,” Zhang said.