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Before Our Time

Cong Feng

Run time: 15 mins

Film type: Experimental Film

Synopsis

This material relating to the 512 earthquake, all downloaded from the internet, was used in Stratum 2: The Asthenosphere in a mix with material from other content. I have pulled out two of the relatively complete segments and put them together, with some of the subtitles slightly abridged. This also fulfils an idea I had: a film made up of modules that can be freely assembled and disassembled and put back together, a Lego block film, a Transformers-style film. A subject can be disassembled or reassembled into a new subject, the material takes on a new meaning in a new combination-context. Materials are always individual and particular, but the meanings they can be given are infinite and universal.

 

Director biography

CONG Feng, born in Chengde in 1972, is a filmmaker and writer, and serves on the editorial board of Film Auteur. He has previously worked at the National Satellite Meteorology Centre of China and as cultural editor for The International Herald Leader. His major films include Stratum I: The Visitors (2013), Stratum II: Asthenosphere (2021), and Another Part of the World: Ghosts and Their After-Images (2024), among others. His most recent publication is a poetry collection titled So-Called History (2025).