Behemoth

Beixi moshuo

DIRECTOR: Zhao Liang   COUNTRIES: China, France   YEAR: 2015   LANGUAGE(S): Chinese  SUBTITLES: English   RUNNING TIME: 90 min  

SECTION: Weekender 2016

SYNOPSIS

Like the insatiable biblical monster Behemoth, Chinese coal mining is eating its way through Inner Mongolia. Zhao Liang, NIHRFF winner 2011, documents the high price that the environment and miners have to pay for this megalomaniacal state project. With images that are as precise as they are poetic and an incredible sense of cinematic rhythm, Liang lends his perhaps best film an urgency and impact that is hard to resist. In its raw beauty, the film moves inexorably from a certain fascination to a silent and therefore all the more insistent outrage at the extent of the destruction. The director is guided by Dante’s Divine Comedy, from which not only commentary passages but also the colour symbolism of the film are borrowed.

ZHAO LIANG

Liang Zhao was born in north-east China and graduated from the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 1992. Zhao has lived in Beijing since 1993 and works as an independent documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist in the fields of photography and video art. His works have been exhibited at the International Center of Photography (New York), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), the Haus der Kullturen der Welt (Berlin), the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid) and numerous other art galleries and museums around the world. With his unique vision and sharp reflections on social issues and conditions, Zhao is at the forefront of documentary filmmaking in China today. Crime and Punishment (2007) was honoured with the Nuremberg International Film Award in 2007. In addition, his films Petition (1996-2008) was selected for the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, Together (2010) for the 61st Berlin Film Festival and Behemoth (2015) for the 72nd Venice Film Festival.

FILMOGRAPHY

Paper Airplane (2001), City Scene (2004), Return to the Border (2005), Farewell Yuanmingyuan (2006), Crime and Punishment (2007, NIHRFF-Gewinner 2007), Petition (2009), Together (2011), Behemoth (2015)

SCRIPT: Zhao Liang, Sylvie Blum   PRODUCER: Sylvie Blum   CAMERA: Zhao Liang  

PRODUCTION: INA   WORLD SALES: Michèle Gautard, INA   GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: Johan De Faria, Upside Distribution

WEBSITE
http://zhaoliangstudio.com/