Private Project

Ball

In the vast grasslands of Xinjiang, a Kazakh father gives his young son a football every year — three years, three balls, one ritual. As the boy slowly uncovers the meaning behind this quiet tradition, he begins to understand a buried promise and a father’s unspoken love. BALL is a restrained, dialogue-light short film about memory, time, and the way love travels across generations.

  • Fubao Fan
    Director
  • Fubao Fan
    Writer
  • Ying Wang
    Producer
  • Alimjan Tursenbek
    Key Cast
  • Kaushar
    Key Cast
  • Shitao Zhang
    Executive Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    球
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, 2K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • N/A – This is a premiere submission.
Distribution Information
  • No distributor attached.
Director Biography - Fubao Fan

Fubao Fan (Fobell) is a filmmaker and producer working at the intersection of fiction, realism, and regional storytelling. Born in Hebei and trained in computer science before entering the film industry, he later studied producing at the Beijing Film Academy, bringing a cross-disciplinary sensitivity to his creative practice. His work focuses on restrained, emotionally grounded narratives shaped by ordinary people, landscapes, and unspoken memory.
He has served as executive producer on the web series Immortals Above and the Xinjiang children’s feature Never Walk Alone. BALL marks his debut as a writer-director.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

BALL began with a simple image that stayed with me: a father handing his son a football every year, without explanation. In Xinjiang, where vast landscapes often mirror the distances within families, this small ritual carries a quiet emotional weight. I wanted to make a film where meaning is not spoken, but discovered—where a child learns to read love through time, absence, and memory.

The film embraces minimal dialogue, non-professional actors, and a patient visual rhythm to honor the authenticity of the region. What interested me was not the event itself, but the space around it—the silence between generations, the things parents cannot say, and the way children eventually understand what was once hidden from them.

BALL is my attempt to capture that moment of awakening, when a young boy sees his father not as a figure of authority, but as a human being carrying his own stories and regrets. It is a small story, but to me, small stories often reveal the deepest truths.