Mouthpiece
Guo Xizhi
Release year: 2009
Run time: 108 mins
Film type: documentary
Synopsis
In a democratic polity the media is supposed to be the mouthpiece of the public. However, in a Shenzhen TV station protecting the interests of the Chinese Communist Party is paramount and reporters are simply mouthpieces of the government. ‘First Spot’ is an investigative TV programme focusing on social inequality, but most of its coverage ends up being buried. This film documents the day-to-day operation of the TV station, following reporters as they attempt to capture a city and its people in all its myriad forms.
Director biography
Guo Xizhi, born in 1965, in Tongling, Anhui Province, graduated from the Chinese Department of East China Normal University in 1990 with a Masters degree in literature and art. He has published several articles in journals such as Reading. He has worked in a TV station and now teaches at Shenzhen University. His works have been screened often in international and domestic film festivals, and won some awards, as have the student films he directed.