Crude Oil (film)

2008 Chinese film by Wang Bing

Crude Oil

Directed by| Wang Bing
Edited by| Guo Hengqi
Distributed by| Wil Productions

Release date

* January 2008 (2008-01) (International Film Festival Rotterdam)

Running time

| 840 minutes
Countries| China
Netherlands
Language| Mandarin

Crude Oil (simplified Chinese: 采油日记; traditional Chinese: 採油日記; pinyin: Cǎi yóu rì jì) is a 2008 Chinese documentary film directed by Wang Bing. Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, it follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.[1]

Like Wang's debut feature—the nine-hour Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks—Crude Oil is notable for extreme length, running to 840 minutes (14 hours). The original plan called for a 70-hour film, but Wang felt compelled to exert additional editorial control and reduced the work to its present length.[2] The director himself came down with severe altitude sickness and left the location three days into the one-week shoot; his crew completed the remainder without him.[3]

Crude Oil premiered (in a video installation setting) at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it received a NETPAC "Special Mention" for "its dispassionate expose of the hardship of human labour which is the basis of economic progress."[4] The project was commissioned by the IFFR, with additional support from the Hubert Bals Fund.[2] It had its Asian premiere at the 2008 Hong Kong International Film Festival.[5] Its North American premiere was at The Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2009, with screenings held in Gallery 6 at the Hammer Museum.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of longest films by running time

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Crude Oil". IFFR. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
2. ^ a b Zuilhof, Gertjan. "A Programmer's Chronicles 20". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
3. ^ Dupont, Joan (2008-01-31). "Edgy Asian directors in spotlight at Rotterdam". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
4. ^ "Tiger Award winner 2008". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
5. ^ "Special Presentation: Crude Oil". The 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival. Retrieved 2008-05-01. [dead link‍]
6. ^ "Crude Oil Part 1 -". Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-06-29.

## External links

[edit]

* Crude Oil[dead link‍] at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
* Crude Oil[dead link‍] at the Hong Kong International Film Festival
* DISPATCH FROM ROTTERDAM | Adventures at the IFFR: "Oil," "Right One," "Jamil," and CineMart (indieWIRE article)
* Crude Oil at IMDb

* v
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Films directed by Wang Bing

* Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002)
* Fengming, a Chinese Memoir (2007)
* Crude Oil (2008)
* The Ditch (2010)
* Three Sisters (2012)
* 'Til Madness Do Us Part (2013)
* Bitter Money  (2016)
* Mrs. Fang (2017)
* Dead Souls (2018)
* Youth (Spring) (2023)
* Youth (Hard Times) (2024)
* Youth (Homecoming) (2024)

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