Cotton
Zhou Hao
Release year: 2014
Run time: 93 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
Tens of millions of Chinese farm labourers work day and night on the various processes making up the cotton industry. They grow and harvest the cotton balls, spin them into yarn, weave fabrics and turn them into jeans. The production of cotton articles involves entire farming families. We accompany a horde of baggage-laden factory workers making the long journey in overflowing train carriages, singing happily about their tough lives.
Director biography
Zhou Hao is a documentary filmmaker who has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, producing documentaries since 2001. Zhou’s works have won awards and been screened at film festivals around the world more than a hundred times. His 2014 film, Cotton, won Best Documentary at the 51st Golden Horse Film Festival. Zhou’s 2015 film, The Chinese Mayor, won the Special Jury Award for Unparalleled Access at the 31st Sundance Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary at the 9th Asian Film Awards, and won Zhou the Best Documentary award for the second time in a row at the 52nd Golden Horse Film Festival. In 2020, he was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to join the Oscar voters.