Crude Oil (simplified Chinese: 采油日记; traditional Chinese: 採油日記; pinyin: Cǎi yóu rì jì) is a 2008 Chinese documentary film directed by Wang Bing. Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, it follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.[1]

Crude Oil
Directed byWang Bing
Edited byGuo Hengqi
Distributed byWil Productions
Release date
Running time
840 minutes
CountriesChina
Netherlands
LanguageMandarin

Like Wang's debut feature—the nine-hour Tie Xi Qu: West of the TracksCrude Oil is notable for extreme length, running to 840 minutes (14 hours). The original plan called for a 70-hour film, but Wang felt compelled to exert additional editorial control and reduced the work to its present length.[2] The director himself came down with severe altitude sickness and left the location three days into the one-week shoot; his crew completed the remainder without him.[3]

Crude Oil premiered (in a video installation setting) at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it received a NETPAC "Special Mention" for "its dispassionate expose of the hardship of human labour which is the basis of economic progress."[4] The project was commissioned by the IFFR, with additional support from the Hubert Bals Fund.[2] It had its Asian premiere at the 2008 Hong Kong International Film Festival.[5] Its North American premiere was at The Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2009, with screenings held in Gallery 6 at the Hammer Museum.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Crude Oil". IFFR. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  2. ^ a b Zuilhof, Gertjan. "A Programmer's Chronicles 20". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  3. ^ Dupont, Joan (2008-01-31). "Edgy Asian directors in spotlight at Rotterdam". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  4. ^ "Tiger Award winner 2008". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  5. ^ "Special Presentation: Crude Oil". The 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival. Retrieved 2008-05-01. [dead link]
  6. ^ "Crude Oil Part 1 -". Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
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