Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang

A documentary about a director. Jia Zhangke grew up in Fenyang in northern China and shot most of his films in that region. The documentary goes back there with him. The structure is a walk: Jia moves through the old streets, finds the places he filmed and shows what has become of them. Some have been demolished, others are unrecognisable. The real subject is change: the transformation China went through in thirty years and the emptiness it left in the provinces. Jia's films were already about that; here the documentary shows where they came from. Among those speaking are the director's family, childhood friends and the actors he has worked with. Wang Hongwei was the lead in the early films; Zhao Tao is both an actor and his wife. In one section Jia opens the subject of censorship and talks about his films going unshown in his own country for a long time. Walter Salles directed. A Brazilian filmmaker making a portrait of a Chinese colleague gives the film an outsider's curiosity; the questions come from a filmmaker rather than an admirer. Who it is for: anyone who knows Jia Zhangke's films and likes portraits of filmmakers. Who it is not for: anyone who has seen none of them; the documentary reminds more than it informs and refers constantly to scenes.