A Chinese documentary about the real lives of two cotton-growing families in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region premiered on Tuesday, portraying their everyday challenges and triumphs in Awati County.
The premier of the documentary Fabric of Lives took place outdoors against the backdrop of cotton fields in Awati, where the two featured local families in the documentary, Zhang Qiang and Arkin, have toiled for decades.
"For me, the most important thing about taking part in this film is to show people that this is our real life and our real emotions. I get emotional when I watch it now, and I'm sure when I watch it again," said Barna Arkin, the daughter of the Arkin Family.
Her father, a stoic farmer, also expressed gratitude for the shared moments with the crew.
"The film crew went through great ordeals to shoot this film here for three years," said Arkin Talip.
Scheduled for screening on Wednesday, the documentary took genuine efforts to complete, and it is not a scripted narrative but rather a genuine attempt to capture the daily lives of the local people, according to the filmmakers.
"We didn't come to tell a 'story.' We came to discover and listen to what their life was like. What we learned was a different way of living, and though we often didn't speak the same language, by the time we finished filming, we had a heart-to-heart connection," said Liu Guoyi, the documentary's director.
The film emphasizes the power of real-life stories, woven together not by scriptwriters but by the resilience and positive attitude of the people themselves.
"When I saw the film for the first time, it moved me too, to see these families who have been writing this 'script' with their calluses for generations. But they also have a very upbeat attitude about life—after a long day of work and dinner, they would get up dance and sing," said Liu Yang, the film's producer.
Documentary shows real cotton-growing families in China's Xinjiang
