I Swallowed an Iron MoonXu Lizhi

I swallowed an iron moon
they called it a screw

I swallowed industrial wastewater and unemployment forms
bent over machines, our youth died young

I swallowed labor, I swallowed poverty
swallowed pedestrian bridges, swallowed this rusted-out life

I can't swallow any more
everything I've swallowed roils up in my throat

I spread across my country
a poem of shame


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FILM SYNOPSIS

An assembly line worker in an Apple factory who commits suicide at the young age of 24, leaving behind 200 poems of despair — " I swallowed an iron moon… " ; a guileless lathe operator who is rebuffed at every turn, living in the world of his poetry; a female clothing factory worker who lives in poverty but writes poetry rich in dignity and love; a coalminer who works deep in the earth year round, trying to contact and make peace with the spirits of his dead coworkers through his poetry; and a goldmine demolitions worker who blasts rocks several kilometers into mountainsides to support his family, while writing poetry to carry the weight of his fury and affections — " My body carries three tons of dynamite…." They could be any of the 350 million workers in China, and yet these five are also poets. Using poetry as a tool to chip away at the ice of silence, they express the hidden life stories and experiences of people living at the bottom of the society. This is one story behind the sudden rise of China, and a mournful song of global capitalism.



AWARDS & NOMINATIONS


-“Iron Moon" was the winner of the Golden Goblet Award for Best Documentary at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The jury commented: “This documentary is a work of impressively original spirit. Imbued with poetry, it documents the living conditions of the most talented worker-poets in China. The jury found the film well-produced, full of emotion and narrative tension.”


-“Iron Moon" won the Golden KAPOK Best Documentary of the Year Award and the Best Sound Editing Award at 2015 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival. The jury commented: “Iron Moon” is a tremendous accomplishment. It achieves a perfect combination of poetry, music, and images by using unique techniques and guiding the audience step-by-step along a beautiful and touching journey.  


英文版larura2.png

Five Worker Poets
  • Dawn

    Garment Factory Worker

  • Xu Lizhi

    Foxconn Woker

  • Blackbird

    Unemployed Forklift Driver

  • Old Coalminer

    Coalmine Worker

  • Lucky

    Demolitions Worker

NameDawn

WorkGarment Factory Worker

Seniority 19

Bio The garment factory worker Dawn is a "pearl surviving at the bottom." She loves sundresses, and she keeps many cheap, beat-up sundresses in her wardrobe. Even though her life is difficult, she keeps up her spirits and love of beauty, writing poems that explore the strength of the human spirit.

Sundress


The packing area is flooded with light

the iron I'm holding

collects all my hand's warmth

 

I want to press the straps flat

so they won't dig into your shoulders

and then press up from the waist

a lovely waist

where someone can lay a fine hand

and on the tree-shaded lane

caress a quiet kind of love

 

finally I'll smooth the dress out

to iron the pleats to equal widths

so you can sit by a lake or on a grassy lawn

and wait for a breeze

 

Soon when I get off work

I'll wash my sweaty uniform

and the sundress will be packed and shipped

to a fashionable boutique

where it will wait just for you

unknown girl

I love you


NameXu Lizhi

WorkFoxconn Woker

Seniority 4

Bio The day before the National Day, 24-year-old Xu Lizhi jumped out of a building. He was working on Foxconn assembly line, the world’s largest Apple manufacturing factory. He left behind a volume of painful poems of the highest quality.

A Laborer Entering the City

  

Many years ago

with a bag on his back

he walked into

this bustling city

  

high-spirited and daring

  

Many years later

he carried his own ashes in his hands

standing at the city's 

crossroads

  

looking around hopelessly


NameBlackbird

WorkUnemployed Forklift Driver

Seniority 8

Bio In Blackbird’s hometown hospital, he cuts the umbilical cord of his second child, whose birth is illegal under the one-child policy. Just a month before, he won an important poetry award for his unique style, and he feels doubly blessed. When he loses his job and must go back to the city to find a new one, however, everything begins to fall apart.

Rhapsody on the Advance of Heavy Snow

 

In a snow factory in the sky

mechanical assembly line angels

stand night and day in the noise and lights

numbly producing snowflakes.

The workload makes them spit white froth

and ooze out snowflakes 

that crash down around them.

Suddenly my country becomes a swath of white,  

and suddenly the smile s of thirty provinces are crushed into tears.

The army endlessly repairs the smashed borders.

Only the workers' white heads

are left exposed in the snow.

The threatened earth slowly slowly slowly

leans toward that snow-burdened edge.


NameOld Coalminer

WorkCoalmine Worker

Seniority 25

Bio The taciturn worker-poet Old Coalminer perches In an 800-meter-deep coalmine. His poetry takes shape in this difficult, dark environment. His poems speak with the center of the earth, speak with the coal beds. After a fatal mine disaster, his poetry can also speak with the dead.

Mining Disaster Site


Forgive me, brothers

that I can't pass beyond the barrier  

to hold your warm ashes in my hands

and begin a long conversation

now I can only write this poem

deep underground

dozens of harvesters of the earth's organs

became victims of the earth's revenge

its angry flames burnt them to ash

leaving behind their fears, love, hatred

and a few years later

a man shoveling coal into a furnace

will stare dumbly

at a pile of white bones

brothers

take your suffering souls

those flashes of black lightening

and lay them on my shoulders

take all of your memories, grief, and desires

and pile them up in my body

I will be a living coffin

a moving grave

carrying your broken dreams

up to the surface where the sun is brutal 

I'll release it all

and dry your pain in the sun

then let it float off 

on the lingering wisps of smoke from grave-sweeping day 


NameLucky

WorkDemolitions Worker

Seniority 16

Bio His daily routine is used to blow up rocks and dig mines for miners. By lonely, deep mountains, he writes poetry filled with a fighting spirit. Learning that his mother is ill with terminal cancer, he chooses to stay in the mountains and continue doing this dangerous work rather than returning home. He uses his own life’s energy to help continue hers.

Demolitions Mark


I use up my midlife five kilometers in

I explode rocks layer by layer

to put my life back together

                                         

My humble relatives are far away by Mt. Shang 

they're sick, bodies covered in dust

however much my midlife is shortened

their old age is lengthened

 

My body carries three tons of dynamite

and they are the fuse

 

Last night

I exploded like the rocks


  • June2014
  • January2015
  • February2015
  • May2015
  • June2015
  • June2015
  • October2015
  • October2015
  • December2015
  • ​November2016
  • June 2014

    "Iron Moon" officially begins filming. This is the first documentary film ever to focus on worker-poets in China.


  • January 2015

    A crowdfunding effort is launched, and is successfully supported by 1,300 people, becoming an example for the film industry. 


  • February 2015

    A public poetry reading "The Verse of Us——Workers' Poetry Recital" was launched with live streaming. This pioneering event was reported on widely in the media. 


  • May 2015

    21 different organizations joined together in an online poetry-reading event that received nearly 10 million online clicks.


  • June 2015

    "Iron Moon" premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival and won the "Golden Goblet Award" for best documentary film. The Shanghai International Film Festival is Chinese only FIAPF A-category film festival, and the award brought "Iron Moon" to international attention. 


  • June 2015

    An anthology of poetry related to the film was published, and "Iron Moon" has already became a lasting cultural influence in China.


  • October 2015

    "Iron Moon" is nominated for two awards, "Best Documentary" and "Best Film Editing" at the 52nd Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. TGHFF is considered the "Oscars of Chinese Movies" and Chinese-speakers around the world become aware of "Iron Moon". The film has a shot at the most important documentary film award in China.


  • October 2015

    "Iron Moon" was invited to the Amsterdam International Documentary Festival, the biggest documentary festival in the world, and the film begins to be known in Europe.


  • December 2015

    The 'countrywide crowdfunded screenings' begins, and over the next year "Iron Moon" will have 642 crowdfunded screenings in 130 cities and 30 provinces, a new record in Chinese film. 


  • ​November 2016

    "Iron Moon" will screen in American cinemas and more than ten universities. An English-language version of the anthology will be published in the United States, and a Spanish version is currently being translated.  


  • THE POET WHO DIED FOR YOUR PHONE

    Hundreds of thousands of people travel from China’s countryside to its cities to work in factories, building devices for international consumers and trying to assemble better lives for themselves. see more
  • DER SPRUNG

    A German article reported by ' Süddeutsche Zeitung'. PDF version available for download.
Latest News
In Theaters In Universities
Screening Details
DateNovember 11 - 17
NYCinema Village in New York City (Manhattan)
LALaemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena
Time12pm to 10pm, 4 times per day
Screening Details

  • Nov 7, 10:00, Brandeis University

  • Nov 7, 16:00, Yale University

  • Nov 9, 18:30,Purchase College, State University of New York (East Asian Studies/ China House/401 6th Ave)

  • Nov 9, 19:00, New York University

  • Nov 10, 19:00, Columbia University 

  • Nov 11, 18:00, The City University of New York

  • Nov 12, Virginia Military Institute (Time TBA)

  • Nov 17, 16:00, University of Southern California


This documentary film follows the lives of workers behind the rise of Chinese manufacturing. Their stories and poetry affect us all, and with your help, we can bring this important film to the US and publish a corresponding poetry anthology.

The "Iron Moon" Trilogy

They are ordinary workers, and topnotch poets. They work hard on this earth, yet live in their poetry too.
This is the first series of films to focus on workers’ poetry in China.
Iron Moon
2015

The fate of six worker-poets are interwoven into a moving story about the charms of poetry, the power of the workers, and the challenges of this moment in history.


A New Day
2016

The older brother of Foxconn worker and poet Xu Lizhi interprets Xu's last poems, and his family and friends vividly recreate Xu’s life and emotional world, exploring the social and personal reasons behind Xu's death. 


Demolition Mark
2016

A demolitions worker who works deep in the mountains suddenly becomes a guest on the "King of Poetry" reality show. Illusions mix with fierce conflicts on screen, as well as in real life.


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