'Factory Boss' selected for Montreal World Film Festival

A scene from Factory Boss Photo: Courtesy of Factory Boss

The Montreal World Film Festival has selected Da Gong Lao Ban (Factory Boss), directed by Zhang Wei, to compete in the festival's World Competition - Feature Films category, it was announced on the festival's official website last week.

The film is the only Chinese movie among the 19 on the list.

Ning Hao's No Man's Land, Leste Chen's The Great Hypnotist and Diao Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice will also be shown at the festival. However, unlike these three films, Factory Boss is not very well known in China.

Factory Boss tells the story of a manufacturing business based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. As rising labor costs lead China to lose its manufacturing industry to Southeast Asian countries, the "world's factory" Shenzhen begins to enter a crisis.

The film is based on the personal experiences of its director. Thirty years ago Zhang moved to Shenzhen, working hard and rising from an ordinary worker to an upper-level manager, he bore witness to the rise and fall of the industry.

Preparing eight years for the film, Zhang's film focuses on the theme of "the workers w0rk for the boss, while the boss works for the world."

As one of the world's top five film festivals, the Montreal World Film Festival has introduced many Chinese films to the world in its 30-year history, such as Border Town (1984, directed by Ling Zifeng) and Postmen in The Mountains (1999, directed by Huo Jianqi).