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Burned Wings

Zheng Kuo

Release year: 2013

Run time: 110 mins

Film type: Fiction

Synopsis

Yang Xiaoming, a young man who has lived his whole life in a small town by the sea in northern China, leads three blood brothers who have joined a local gang. To survive, they must constantly fight with other gangs and the local police. Yang Xiaoming upholds his gang’s dignity and rules to the end. As times change, however, the old rules no longer apply. When an old friend appears; when the “Big Brother” in charge of demolition shows up; and when his own blood brother dies, Yang Xiaoming cannot face his powerlessness anymore. He decides to fight desperately for his love and beliefs.

 

Director biography

Zheng Kuo, independent producer and director, graduated from the Li Xianting Film School in 2009. He planned the independent film section of the 2008 Beijing 798 Art Festival at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. He was also the curator of the independent film section of the 2009 Beijing 798 Biennial. In 2010, he directed his first independent feature documentary, 798 Station, and a short fiction film, Sound of Silence. His renowned feature documentary, Cold Winter, documents the Beijing artists rallies of 2011. Burned Wings is his debut fiction feature film.

Director's statement

I have always been fond of gangster movies. Their characters display a courage and uprightness which is rare in daily life. Burned Wings is the realistic version of the mainland Chinese gangster movie. I was inspired by my disappointment in contemporary Chinese reality, by my memories of my youth, by my desire for violence. This is a love letter to this dream and an elegy to this era.