Synopsis

The film was shot in Urumqi in mid-March 2020. Like all Chinese people, I experienced about 40 days of home quarantine in Xinjiang. It may have been the first time in my life that I stayed at home for such a long time. At the beginning, I was extremely anxious due to the flood of information every day. Slowly, I turned into a low-energy state that made me want to give up. This experience was unprecedented. The process of creating this script brought me back to life and filled me with hope and vitality in that state. Due to various local restrictions, this also led to the achievement of this simple and pure audiovisual form. Originally, the film was named "The Gathering on February 6th". However, it seemed too prominent to pay tribute to Dr. Li Wenliang and affected the audience's imagination. Therefore, it was changed to "The Gathering on January 32nd", which is a non-existent day, a group of non-existent people, and a non-existent topic. But this seemed too fictional, after all, we were discussing a very current event, and there are indeed many Uyghurs in Xinjiang who have similar views to the characters in the story. Finally, the title of the film was changed to "Ridiculous Nurshad", as Nurshad's views were indeed absurd and arrogant in this era. They were just like my brave and simple compatriots. I think if a real disaster really happens, these unscientific choices and beliefs may make them pay a price, or may help them escape. Both are possible. However, whether we can tolerate such absurd views is worth thinking about more than judging whether they should live according to some "correct" way.