Of the animals represented in the Chinese zodiac, the ox is one of the best,' says Guan Hu, when he explains why he made Cow, a film in which the titular creature is so central to the narrative that it's as much a star as its human counterparts.
'It symbolises diligence, tolerance, docility and the ability to withstand pain and catastrophe,' he says. 'This is a creature that embodies how we, the Chinese, live. That's why the film's protagonist treats it like a lover or a mother - because it represents a nurturing, maternal figure promising protection and survival. And we're in the Year of the Ox, too!'
Guan's seventh film is heavy with symbolism. Inspired by a myth he heard in Shandong, about a man who has lived with his cow since 1937, the film - about the tribulations of a Friesian cow and its herder Niu (a peasant played by Huang Bo) - is not only a wartime tale, but also an allegory about the world today.
Cows represent traditional values such as honesty and perseverance, Guan says, while the marauding Japanese soldiers and desperate refugees trying to milk or murder the animal stand for the aggression and selfishness of society today.
Guan's film begins with Niu (Chinese for cow) scuttling around his village, only to find everyone has been slaughtered by the Japanese invaders. The only survivor is the cow the village elders had assigned to his care. From there the film flits between Niu's flashbacks of better times - when he revels in his mentorship of the animal and his budding relationship with a young widow, Jiu (played by Yan Ni) - and his efforts to fend off gun-toting intruders and violent, hungry mobs.
Guan says he kept the film 'as far away from politics as possible'.