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Ceramic Utopia

Jingdezhen city, which has a history of ceramic manufacturing for more than 1,000 years, is also known as the paradise of workers. For thousands of years, generations of workers have lived and fallen in love, built their families and made ceramics here. At present, there are also such a small group of people amount the city, who live in the scent of clay, love and hate, reproduce and inherit, and who construct a small universe close to but independent from the real world, their works, like stars that have fallen onto the ground, are transformed back into stars by the warmth of their hands and the heat of fire. It’s more likely that these people are stars themselves shining in the sky.
Under the background of this strange era, from those young people, we seem to see the shadow of the ancients Tao Yuanming the pastoral poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who lived here 1,600 years ago, he distanced himself from central power, rejected politics, and retired to the pastoral life.
We try to use the relationships which clay with people to make this film, in experimental, non-fictional language, a new form of exploration.

  • Vincent ZHENG
    Director
  • Vincent ZHENG
    Writer
  • Vincent ZHENG
    Producer
  • Yachen WANG
    Producer
  • Ke SHAO
    Key Cast
  • Yu DA
    Key Cast
  • Sisu QIAN
    Key Cast
  • He WANG
    Key Cast
  • Zhi YUAN
    Key Cast
  • Jing-wen WU
    Key Cast
  • Xiao-xue ZHANG
    Key Cast
  • Jun CAO
    Key Cast
  • Ding-xuan LI
    Key Cast
  • Aunt LI
    Key Cast
  • Jian ZHANG
    Key Cast
  • Zeng-hui LI
    Music
  • You-Jie LI
    Director of Art&Photography
  • Vincent ZHENG
    Editor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    陶瓷烏托幫
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 39 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Vincent ZHENG

Vincent ZHENG was born in 1984 and grew up in a Yi minority village in the Wumeng Mountain, southwest of China, studied and graduated journalism at university, after engaged in near ten occupations, set off to make film in 2011, till now is currently a Independent professional filmmaker, as director, screenwriter, producer. Now work and live in Beijing, China.
Works include the short films: “Behind the Red Wall” (2011), “The Grassland of Soul”(2012), experimental short “Dialogue” (2016), short drama “The Black Sheep” (2021), Music documentary “Reincarnation” (2022), short f drama “Green Head” (2023), experimental short “A Poet on the Cruise” (2023), non-fiction feature “Ceramic Utopia” (2024).

Works and Film Festival Awards(excerpted),
Nonfiction“Ceramic Utopia”（2024）
55th Visions du Réel International Film Festival Nyon, VdR - Film Market

Short “a poet on the cruise”（2023）,
21st Aporia International village film festival “Official Selection”
15th International Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Fest “Official Selection”
7th Nepal International Film Festival “Official Selection”

Short “Green Head” （2023）,
6th Cinema of the World International Film Festival “Official Selection”
13th Pune International Short Film Festival “Official Selection”

Documentary Feature “Reincarnation”（2022）,
7th RapidLion - The South African International Film Festival “Official Selection”

2nd Sugar Loaf Film Festival “Best Documentary Award Winner”

Short “The Black Sheep”（2021）,
19th Festival international Signes de Nuit - Paris - “Jury Award”

44th Moscow International Film Festival - "Official Selection"

26th Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival -“Capri Spacial Award”

41st Thomas Edison Film Festival - “Honorable Mention Award"

8th International Festival Signs of the Night - Bangkok - “Main Award”


Documentary Short “Dialogue”（2016）,
Songzhuang Art Museum's 10th Anniversary Invited Exhibition

Short “Behind the Red Wall”（2011）,
Caochangdi International Film Art ant Music Festival “Opening Film”


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Director Statement

Clay is the most basic foundation for human bings, it comes from the earth, it is also a part of the earth, and even the earth itself, and it seems to be even more so in ceramics.

We tried to use this "clay" to compose the film, in an experimental way, it does not belong to the fiction, nor the documentary. In the hands and blood of the ceramist, in the kiln fire, and in the air of Jingdezhen city, it seems to be connected to the distant "the Peach Spring beyond this World".