Private Project

The Goldfish

The film costs $200 and lasts 20 minutes, with four main characters. It describes various bizarre encounters of a cinema manager on his way home alone in the evening after an entertainment. The film style lies between rationality and irrationality, reality and surrealism, using external plot factors, such as, suspense, absurdity, symbolism and ambiguity, to metaphorize mental states of modern people, such as, anxiety, fear and despair. The director hopes to build a bridge between the traditional film language and existentialism literature, and explores the undercurrents and crises hidden beneath the surface of life.

  • Li Zheng
    Director
  • Li Zheng
    Writer
  • Li Zheng
    Producer
  • Li Zheng
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    金鱼
  • Project Type:
    Short, Other
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 28, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    200 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese, English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Li Zheng

Li Zheng, also known as Li Yuantu, was born in 1989 in Rizhao, Shandong Province, China, majoring in fine arts. In 2013, he starred in a short film "Dead Water". "Dead Water" became the only film in the mainland of China to be selected for the 70th Venice International Film Festival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The inspiration of the film is from doubts about ordinary life and its rationality. I want to let some parts of this film escape from the narrative logic of the traditional film thought, and use the image language dissociating between reality and absurdity to inspire audiences to think their own existence and alienation, revealing undercurrents and crises hidden beneath the surface of life.