Three Small Animal 1
Xue Jianqiang
Release year: 2008
Run time: 17 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
This film depicts the lives of three boys: Jun Jun, also known as "The Lustful Man in the Making". He was born in 1992. we found him in September 2007 at his home in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. He had dropped out of high school and had nothing to do but play mahjong in his father's mahjong parlour. Kailong, also known as "Dark Youth". He was born in 1993. He is also a school dropout and we found him in a coal mine in Shanxi in September 2007. His parents were divorced and had been fighting. He spent the day with another child who had been abandoned by the divorce. They spent their days fighting and stealing scrap from the coal mine. Feng Jie, also known as "Sleepless". He was born in 1994. We found him in a coal mine in Shanxi in September 2007. Every morning, his parents forced him to recite the school vocabulary list.
Director biography
Director's statement
Every time I create a failed piece, I learn something. There are no limits to this. Three Small Animals depicts the different lives of three boys, but what we see is their unique and shared character as “livestock.” The children have the right to choose, or don’t they? The children’s humor and temperament are only real in their external worlds. Society is shaping us, and we know nothing—self-awareness is hard to obtain. There are many things that we are aware of, but are powerless to stop from taking place. We can only watch.