Xiao Shan, a temporary worker at the Hongyuan Restaurant, has just been fired by his boss Zhao Guoqing. Deciding to leave Beijing and returns to his home in Anyang, he goes to see a series of people from his hometown who have also been living in Beijing -construction workers, train ticket scalpers, university students, attendant, prostitutes- but no one wants to go back with him. Dispirited and confused, he searches out one after another of his old friends who are still in Beijing. Finally he leaves his wild long hair, the symbol of his life in the city, at a roadside barber stand as his offering to Beijing. Seoul Independent Film Festival




Director’s Note:
When the respected jurors gave the gold award to the film, I knew that they had forgiven our technical mistakes caused by our inexperience.
We are grateful to this.
Film production is difficult, it demands your lasting endurance and pure enthusiasm for film.
Film is a kind of my lifestyle; I obtain power and comfort from it.
The competition is just like a bridge. Through the film, we can talk frankly and sincerely of our true discoveries. I know many young people, like us, who have faith in film, are working independently in film productions. Undoubtedly, I am pleased by this phenomenon. Seoul Independent Film Festival





The movie describes the process by which a young man coming to Beijing from Kanan looking for a better life loses his hopes and decides to go back. Young people from the countryside flood the city with great hopes of finding a better future thanks to the development of the economy in China. In this particular case, Xaio Shan, who is a worker from the countryside, tries to make friends because he does not want to be alone by himself during the New Year's celebrations. This film, which is created from fragments of young people's lives in Beijing, shows a view of the town where they live and sketches of their life. The vivid depiction is not fiction any more, and Zhang Ke Jia's eyes looking at the world have now evolved to the level of "Xiao Wu" and "Platform" on the stage in China. This is the film which won the Gold Award at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards. Kyoto International Film and Video Festival




(from an interview with Jia Zhang-Ke)
ALICE SHIH: Jia, I know that your career started with shorts. Can you tell us about your first short, Xiao Shan Going Home?

JIA ZHANG-KE: That was in 1995 when I was still at the Beijing Film Academy. About 10 of us in the class formed the "Independent Experimental Film Group". We gathered a little money, and started making very low budget shorts. At the time, our first project was Xiao Shan Going Home, which I wrote and directed. After the film was completed, a fellow classmate from Hong Kong told me that The Hong Kong Arts Centre was hosting an Independent Shorts Competition and wondered if I would be interested. I said yes and he submitted the film for me. It was selected for competition and went on to win the first prize in the narrative film category. I was then granted the opportunity to go to Hong Kong. The real prize of my Hong Kong trip was not the golden award; it was the friendship that I found in my three long term working partners. My cinematographer Yu Lik-Wai is from Hong Kong and had just finished his studies in Belgium. He was impressed by my film and we decided to team up. Li Kit-Ming was another one. He was a producer for my three films: Xiao Wu/Pickpocket (1997), Platform (2000) and Unknown Pleasures (2002) The third one was Chow Keung who helped produce Platform, Unknown Pleasures and The World (2004). Our Hong Kong-China team formed a strong bond. We made six films in seven years: four directed by me and two by Yu Lik-Wai. We almost had one film per year, and we complemented each others' job. When I made a film, Yu would shoot it, and Li and Chow would produce. Whereas when Yu directed, I would act as his producer. I found this an invaluable working relationship, as I got to learn what was involved in the process, and appreciate the tremendous help that they offered me. In the past, people from mainland China like me had the wrong impression of people from Hong Kong. We thought of them as busy gold-diggers who couldn't care less about culture. After knowing these Hong Kong friends, my feelings turned around completely. They taught me so much! From them I learned fundamental things like, "Solve your own problems". Goliath




This is my very-first-post: "a movie without English audio+English subtitles".
I've published all of Jia Zhang-Ke movies -except his 2 short documentaries- and this one, (his first work, unfortunately without Eng. s/t) is dedicated to hardcore Jia Zhang-Ke admirers (like me myself). -FNB47.






Former posts of Jia Zhang-Ke movies

320 Jia Zhang-Ke - Zhantai ('Platform') (2000)

333 Jia Zhang-Ke - Xiao Wu ('Pickpocket') (1997)

334 Jia Zhang-Ke - Ren xiao yao ('Unknown Pleasures') (2002)

335 Jia Zhang-Ke - Sanxia haoren ('Still Life') (2006)

336 Jia Zhang-Ke - Dong (2006)

371 Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

372 Jia Zhang-Ke - Xiaoshan huijia ('Xiao Shan Going Home') (1995)