Life(生活)

Sand and Sea (1990) was a collaboration between filmmaker Kang Jianning and Liaoning Television producer Gao Guodong. That film described the lives of two families: one living in the Ningxia desert and another, Northeastern fishing family living on a remote island. For the retitled/update of that project, Life, Gao did not participate — so this feature is just about the desert family, headed by father Liu Zeyuan. The film covers many years of the family’s lives, since Kang remained in contact with them and returned to film multiple times over the years. The filmmaking largely consists of striking landscape shots of the desert and rather tortured interviews with reticent family members, who often provide one-word answers to Kang’s audible questions. Kang himself also appears, and is an important catalyst to drawing out his subjects’ responses. The filmmaker emphasizes a deep connection to place, as opposed to a narrative driven by particular events or dramatic scenario.