"Iron Moon",aka "The Verse of Us"，is the first in a series of three documentary films and three corresponding anthologies of poetry that will continue the stories of the first. In online forums and messaging apps alone, discussion of the film has reached more than 80 million people. Iron Moon has already won major film awards in China and been nominated in Taiwan and IDFA(International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) , and been shown more than 500 times across 112 cities. Our next stop is Oscar Nominations 2017ï¼
The film, Iron Moon, evoked a strong reaction in China, as it follows the lives of several worker-poets working at the lowest levels of the society and suffering the most from globalization.A guileless lathe operator who is rebuffed at every turn, living in the world of his poetry; a female clothing factory worker who lives in poverty but writes poetry rich in dignity and love; a coalminer who works deep in the earth year round, trying to contact and make peace with the spirits of his dead coworkers through his poetry; and a goldmine demolitions worker who blasts rocks several kilometers into mountainsides to support his family, while writing poetry to carry the weight of his fury and affections—"My body carries three tons of dynamite…." They could be any of the 350 million workers in China, and yet these five are also poets. Using poetry as a tool to chip away at the ice of silence, they express the hidden life stories and experiences of people living at the bottom of the society. This is one story behind the sudden rise of China, and a mournful song of global capitalism.
November 11, Iron Moon has walked into American well-known theater-Cinema Village for Oscar Qualifying Release.
After the NYC film screening, a speech given by poet ChenNianxi, meanwhile, two directors, translator GuAiling and critic Huang Xiaoxie shared ideas with moviegoers.
Chen Nianxi said: "Lately, a surgery inserted three pieces of metals into the fourth, fifth, sixth cervical vertebra of mine. These elaborate parts are made in US, probably; it came from a mineral explored by me. It experienced a long journey from China to US, and then turn to medical supply, followed, became a part of body. Now, being an ordinary migrant worker IÂ’m here with these metals, but I canÂ’t imagine it could happen in my entire life without support. If metals know human languages, itÂ’ll actually tell a story."
Gu Ailing, the translator of Iron Moon movie and poetry, mentioned that poems is a carrier and a window to tell audiences, who using "Made in China" products, and hope offering more practical help in reality.
DonÂ’t forget our screenings at Cinema Village in NYC and Laemmle Playhouse 7 from November 11 to November 17 in LA.
