Hammer to Nail, a pioneering online journal about ambitious films, has just published Ghost Town director Zhao Dayong’s interview with Nelson Kim, two days after the New York Film Festival screening.
In the conversation, Zhao discussed the situation of independent filmmaking in China, his experiences in painting, installation, and performance art and their influence on his later choice in filmmaking, as well as his recent project about the underground Nigerian Christian community in Guangzhou.
Concerning the three-part structure of the film, Zhao insisted that the film was less a quote unquote documentary than a reflection of his experience living in the community, presented from a “clear, subjective concept” of him. Zhao also expressed his wish for Chinese independent filmmakers to “be persistent, to insist on making good quality films.”
The complete interview can be accessed here.
