Befriending the Black Dog of fate

Director Guan Hu, executive producer Liang Jing and Peng attend the Beijing premiere on June 12. He discovered that while these towns were once prosperous, boasting well-developed community facilities, such as hospitals and schools that were a legacy of China's industrial expansion in the 1950s and '60s, they now lay empty or nearly abandoned due to the decline of factory operations, and that many of their former inhabitants had relocated or departed. With a cast and crew that included more than 100 dogs and over 20 professionals recruited to take care of them in a nearly 2,000-square-meter shelter, the film was shot in desert areas in Gansu province between late 2021 and early 2022, according to the movie's executive producer, Liang Jing. Peng found himself nearly going mad after the famously demanding director required him to reshoot a scene where his character chases a dog more than 50 times.