WHO IS HAORAN?
in competition at the 59th Locarno International Film Festival

WHO IS HAORAN? by Yishu Yang – China – 2006 – 72 min
Production: FanHall Studio WORLD PREMIERE – FIRST FEATURE

A documentary about illegal wrestling matches in China. The bouts are organized on a daily basis in practically every provincial city in the huge country. The young wrestlers are angry, violent and always ready for a fight, in a rebellion against society which however leads nowhere. Despite the title, it is unimportant who HaoRan is, or whether he appears in the film. HaoRan is a metaphor which demonstrates the fragility of the world created for themselves by the wrestlers, and the vacuity of their violence.

I mentioned Fanhall Studio, founded by Zhu Rikun, curator of our forthcoming presentation of independent Chinese documentaries, already as a major instance for the independent chinese cinema here.
An interview with Zhu Rikun, conducted by Marina Foxley, can be found in our Directors talk (also en français)
In march Dream Walking (Meng You)by Huang Wenhai, another production by Fanhall Studio received the Great Prize of the festival "Cinema du Reel" held in Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Here´s wishing for a similiar result in Locarno :)
merci Marina

related: Fanhall Studio and Dream Walking