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High Tech, Low Life

  • Director(s):
    Steve Maing
    Producer(s):
    Trina Rodriguez, Steve Maing
    • United States
    • 2012
    • 88 min
    • HDCAM 1080/24p
    • English

A young man is standing chest-deep in a grassy field poring over an electronic tablet. Living in the neglected backwoods of China, Zhou Shuguang (alias "Zola") is one of more than 500 million Internet users in the country. Harnessing the power of instant information access and dissemination through networks like Twitter, he and other citizen journalists have learnt to bypass the strict codes of conventional Chinese media to provide readers with first-hand, unmediated accounts. Tiger Temple, a 50-something activist with a legacy of political persecution in his family, reports on plights faced by farmers in the agricultural hinterland, whereas Zola, a back-chatting blogger with a slightly inflated ego, gravitates towards more urban and sensational stories. Co-producer & editor of the award-winning Lioness, Stephen Maing follows them over an extensive period, through arrests, airport inquisitions, and nagging parents. It's a fascinating, all-access story of how two people fueled by idealism cope with pervasive state control.

Click to Watch Trailer

Strands

Official Website:
www.hightechlowlifefilm.com/
Festivals:
Tribeca FIlm Festival 2012, Boston International Film Festival 2012, Hot Docs 2012, Open City, London 2012, Sydney International Film Festival 2012
Awards:
Special Jury Prize, Independent Film Festival Boston

Credits

Consulting Editor:
Eric Metzgar 
Editor:
Steve Maing, Jonathan Oppenheim 

Director Filmography

  • 2003, Little Hearts

Contact

Trina Rodriguez, Steve Maing

Mud Horse Pictures, LLC

85 Ainslie Street, Apt. #2

hightechlowlifefilm@gmail.com

+1 6173046316