
Corn corn
ZHANG Huancai • 2023
I always wanted to capture a farmer's feelings toward the corn he has grown for a lifetime in my films, so this is a compilation of footage I shot over twenty years, documenting the entire process from planting to harvesting corn.
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
2023 Hangzhou West Lake International Film Festival, China
CAST & CREW
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

ZHANG Huancai
Director
I have wanted to make a film about corn for a very long time. Every year we grow this crop, so why not make a film devoted entirely to corn? After finishing the short film about wheat, my thoughts suddenly became clear. I decided to follow the natural order of growth, just like writing a narrative essay. That became the foundation of my editing approach.I grew up eating corn porridge, and a love for corn runs deep in my bones. Once the seeds are planted in the soil, the sprouts emerge, growing taller day by day. We weed, fertilize, and water the fields, and the corn keeps reaching upward. When the ears finally form, we become busy again—harvesting, peeling, and hanging the corn to dry.I often feel that when farmers hang corn, they are creating art. Look at the corn hanging on the walls, climbing the trees, stacked on rooftops—golden and varied in form—each cluster looks like a golden sculpture.In fact, we farmers create art every single day. The neat green rows of corn in the fields are art. The farmers working and sweating under the sun are art. And when the entire village turns golden, what could that be if not art?