We were smart  我爱杀马特

Film synopsis: 

We Were SMART tells the stories of China’s Sha-ma-te subculture. Based on in-depth interviews with migrant workers born in the 1990s and 2000s, this documentary film explores why younger migrant workers began expressing themselves through punk hairstyles. The film focuses on their hometowns, educational backgrounds, destination cities, factory lives and spiritual world.

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WE WERE SMART offers a compelling yet sober portrayal of the alienated lives of China's young factory workers, where their melodramatic nicknames, crazy hair styles and eccentric dances serve as creative means to search for the meaning of existence. The film uses self-filmed footages from the assembly lines, dormitories in China's factories in the Pearl River Delta. Following the state crackdown of the workers' SMART subculture, the film traces the end of factory life and the return to hometown for many. As the first film chosen by fra øst til nord' curated program KINA-KINO, we'd like to invite audience in Oslo to explore China's grassroots culrual landscape.