Asian Cinema Fund

ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2013 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST Bullet from Nowhere

Category	BIFF Mecenat Fund
Project	Bullet from Nowhere
Director	GU Tao
Country	China
Director's Profile	Gu Tao started filming documentaries in 2005. Within six years, he completed a series of documentaries about Aoluguya of the Evenk people, including Aolu Guya, Aolu Guya...(2008)，Yuguo and His Mother(2011). It was during that time that he returned to his hometown Oroqen and realized how he had taken everything in Oroqen for granted because he grew up there. After making up his mind to record the Oroqen people’s living condition, he met the main characters of Bullet from Nowhere at a festival celebration.

Synopsis: In 1993, the government collected all shotguns from the Oroqens. The hunting era was over.
Old huntsman Achangyun preferred staying with horses in the mountains than living in a town. He contracted a stud farm and kept more than 100 hunting horses with traditional methods in the mountains, adhering to cultures of his ancestors.
Achangyun’s son Liangliang and his friends were the “post-hunting era” Oroqens who grew up in town. With huntsmen’s blood running in their veins, they couldn’t leave the forests. On an autumn day, horses on the stud farm were shot by poachers. Achangyun was furious, but there was nothing he could do about it…
Apart from riding motorcycles, the young were basically doing nothing, so they decided to organize a motocross race. The government heard the news and determined to interfere with the event, which upset the Oroqens. In the meantime, Achangyun was worried about Liangliang’s safety…

Director's Note: Two generations’ passionate but melancholy attachment to the forests, as well as the agreement and arguments between them, has given Gu the courage to film this documentary, although the courage is mingled with streams of sentiment. As an ethnologist once remarked, “The phenomenon of ethnicities doesn’t come naturally. Therefore, it won’t last forever.” Gu Tao wishes his documentary could inspire some thinking among observers of northern minority ethnic groups.

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