The Square
Ma Zhandong
Release year: 2011
Run time: 20 minutes
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
Public space is symbolic of our country's ideology. In the explicit concept of public usage is an implicit agreement that we are merely “permitted” to use this space. It can never belong to us. Night scenes exacerbate this duality, as myriad personal performances of play, rest, and joy in public space manifest collective mania. Unconscious personal joy effaces traditional use of public space, showcasing emotional release and escape. Traditionally, there was an emphasis upon collective ideology and ways of living. A personal sense of existence was subjugated by the collective group. Today's city life reveals the co-opting of individual strategies of expression as a tendency toward codification of behavior. What appears as a collective mania is an absurd montage unfolding across our screen....
Director biography
His work One Day in May won the best documentary award in 2011 at the Chinese Documentary Festival in Hong Kong. Lao Zhao won the Documentary Humanitarian Award at the 12th China Independent Film Festival. Everybody is Nobody won the 33th ATP Award for Excellence in Tokyo).
Now he lives and works in Chengdu, China.