Out of Focus

虚焦

2014 | China | Documentary | 88 min | Color | Trailer

Director: Shengze Zhu | Producer: Zhengfan Yang & Shengze Zhu | Cinematographer & Editor: Shengze Zhu & Zhengfan Yang | Sound Mix: Siya Huo

SYNOPSIS

On a steamy summer day in 2012, the director Shengze Zhu began to teach photography at Lingzhi Elementary School in Wuhan to a group of children aged 8-12. Lingzhi is known as the “rooftop” school, because its classes are held in a worn-down, four-floor apartment building with a rooftop playground, accommodating about 200 students. All of them are originally from the countryside but have moved to Wuhan, the largest and most populous city in Central China, with their job-seeking parents to search for a better future. Zhu challenges the stereotyped portrayal of migrant children by empowering them through cameras and by incorporating their photographs into the film. What appeals to her is not the miserable living conditions these children confronted due to the low household income, but rather their inner voices about the bustling city and how they perceive, interpret and contend with urban life.