Self-Portrait: Window at 47 KM
Zhang Mengqi
Release year: 2019
Run time: 101 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
This is the eighth film in my documentary “Self-Portrait” series.
An 85-year-old man sits under Mao Zedong's portrait and, as the sun sets, recalls his revolutionary history in pursuit of “New China”.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old girl named Fanghong walks through the village with her paintbrush, knocking on the doors of elders' dark rooms, sitting before them to draw their portraits. She's like a ray of light illuminating their memories and ruins.
I followed Fanghong, and together we built a window for the village of 47 KM.
Director biography
Zhang Mengqi was born in 1987. She graduated from the Dance Academy of China’s Minorities University in 2008. Since 2009, she has been a resident artist at CCD Workstation. She makes documentary films: Self-portrait with Three Women (2010), Self-Portrait: At 47 KM (2011), Self-portrait: Dancing at 47 KM (2012), Self-portrait: Dreaming at 47 km (2013), Self-portrait: Bridging at 47 KM (2014), Self-portrait: Dying at 47 KM (2015), Self-portrait: Born in 47 KM (2016), and Self-portrait: Sphinx in 47 KM (2017), her “Self-Portrait” series.