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66 / People / 67

mining family. He was also among the “
first generation of left-behind children
who remain in rural regions while
their parents leave for work in cities.
Jiang has released 10 documentaries All these problems
since he established his film studio in
2009, among them four are about the won’t just be solved

subject.
In Miners, the Horsekeeper and by your sensational
The Pneumoconiosis, his father and ac- ‘positive-power’.

quaintances from another village, all
afflicted with the fatal lung disease,
are the protagonists.
N oisemaker for offering an audacious account of with a rating of 8.6 out of 10. The
Noisemaker
”
As many film junkies praise him
work has also sparked a bitter debate.
the minority groups, Jiang refuses to
label these groups as minorities. “The Nationalists on China’s Twitter-like
size of each disadvantaged group is Weibo attack Jiang and one of them
actually huge,” he says. “It is possible demanded Jiang’s arrest for his failure
that you don’t see them in your world, to tell stories about China’s ‘good side’.
tary
men
-
, Chil
or the docu
Mo
vie poster f
but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” Some, as Jiang recalls, accused him Movie poster for the documentary, Chil-
dren at a Village Schoo
Photo c
l. (
ourtesy
he adds. of fuelling Western criticisms against dren at a Village School. (Photo courtesy
f Jiang Nengjie
)
of Jiang Nengjie)
o
The National Health Committee China.
of the People’s Republic of China re- “These people only care if ugliness
ported that, by the end of 2018, the
total number of pneumoconiosis suf-
ferers stood at 873,000. But according
to a Beijing-based charity, Love Save
Chinese indie documentary director Jiang Nengjie speaks about chronicling Pneumoconiosis, the number already
marginalised groups and uncompromising attitude on film censorship. surpassed six million in 2012. “I have
no trust in government statistics,” Ji-
ang says.
By Savoki Zhang in Jiangsu For the documentarian, what mat-
ters most is the actual living condi-
tions of people, not statistics. “Some
he quiet release of Miners, the the documentarian chose to publicise particles such as coal dust inside the people are so obsessed with ‘positive
Horsekeeper and Pneumoco- his work by sending download links lung. It tops the list of occupational power’ that they always focus on what
Tniosis raised Chinese docu- to film lovers who clicked a button diseases in China. has been improved and solved, while
mentary enthusiasts’ eyebrows. marked “Want to watch” when read- Born in a rural village in the cen- we (independent filmmakers) reveal Miner Zhao Pinfeng (second right) with his family, as featured in the docu-
th his famil
nd right) wi
o
y
-
red in the docu
, as featu
Miner Zhao Pinfeng (
sec
, Miners, the Horsekeeper and Pneumoc
ni
o
men
tary
osis.
Unlike commercial films with easy ing about his new project on Douban, tral province of Hunan, the 35-year- what is still needed,” Jiang says. “(For mentary, Miners, the Horsekeeper and Pneumoconiosis.
Photo c
ou
rtesy o
f Jiang Nengjie
)
(
access to general audiences through a leading review website in China, for old documentarian pledges to offer instance,) Left-behind children need (Photo courtesy of Jiang Nengjie)
cinemas, in China, independent films free. a frank portrayal of marginalised their parents most, they also need a
are usually aimed at a niche market. The 83-minute documentary ex- groups such as left-behind children, relatively fair allocation of education- and scandals are exposed, they do not “They (the authorities) sought
For independent filmmakers, cover- plores how the use of illegal explosives pneumoconiosis sufferers, the LG- al resource system,” he says. “All these care about the existence of ugliness trouble with me last year. They only
ing production costs presents a huge and mining without protective gear BTQ+ community and army veterans problems won’t just be solved by your and scandals,” Jiang says. banned my films and left me alone
challenge, let alone making money damaged the health of villagers in re- who are invisible in society. sensational ‘positive power’.” he adds. this year,” Jiang claims, without fur-
from their craft. mote Hunan. Many of them have con- Miners, the Horsekeeper and Trespass the Red Line ther addressing how he was treated.
Miners, the Horsekeeper and tracted pneumoconiosis, which is also Let the invisible be seen Pneumoconiosis went viral online Visibility of Jiang’s documentaries Jiang has no idea where the red
Pneumoconiosis took its director Ji- known as black lung disease. The in- Most of Jiang’s works are inspired overnight when it was launched in is boosted with more audience. His lines lie, but the indie documentary
ang Nengjie eight years to make be- curable occupational disease is caused by his upbringing. The now Guang- March 2020, topping the film reputa- works are at the same time more vul- filmmaker vows to navigate the politi-
fore its release in March 2020. But by the accumulation of fine inhaled zhou-based director was born in a tion chart on Douban for two weeks nerable to be censored, however. cally hazardous shoals of China’s cul-