When the Dust Blows Through
楼兰守护者
Documentary Short
Length - 28’17’’
DIRECTED/SHOT/EDIT - YUXUAN ETHAN WU
PRODUCED/SHOT - PENGCHENG XIA
SOUND DESIGN - YUNHAO ZHU
COLOR - ZIWEI QIN
ORIGINAL SCORE - HEFENG LIU
© 2022 CHINA
Ruoqiang county, Xinjiang, Lop Nor Desert, the ruins of ancient Loulan Kingdom.
For the past hundred years, as the mystery of Loulan attracted many scholars and expeditionists, countless tomb raiders sneaked in for cultural relics, damaging everything along the way.In recent years, two men have been stationed by the local museum in the heart of the unpopulated desert to guard the ruins from would-be tomb raiders.They stay for months in solitude with no communication with the outside world and only go out once a month for supplies.
As the heat, sand, and stillness take a toll on them mentally and physically, the sense of time and space starts to fade.
The past and presence slowly merge under the summer heat and they start to wonder.
Director’s Statement
Unlike the Egypt Pyramid or the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, which evidently showcases the magnificence and glory of their representative period of time, Loulan left us with only a few eroded structures that barely resemble a house.
Looking over the horizon, in the heart of the desert, one would be puzzled to recognize the ruins from any other Yardang landforms.
If you look down and close enough, however, you would find countless broken pieces of roof tiles, china, and bronze artifacts alongside seashells on the ground. Standing in the desert alone, I cannot stop wondering what happened on this very land two thousand years ago.
Lakes turn into deserts; rivers become dunes. Whatever happened here never left the land.
However, to me as a filmmaker, the film is more of a character study of the two men, rather than the ruins of the lost Loulan Kingdom. Who are they? Why are they willing to go through such rough conditions, only to be isolated in the desert for months?
They all seem to have a past that hasn’t been found yet.