To Live is Better Than to Die

A heartbreaking story from Wenlou, a small village in central China, where more than 30 percent of the villagers are infected with HIV because they made a little extra money selling their blood in the early 90s. The director Weijun Chen spent months in the village with farmer Ma Shengyi and his family. Ma Shengyi, his wife, and the two youngest of their three children are all infected. The director started shooting along this family’s courtyard in the beginning of the summer in 2001, trying to bring a live picture of the real life of this ordinary family. And the film is what he saw with his very own eyes. This is a self-funded personal project. TV2 of Denmark commissioned the English version afterwards.