Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Zhao Xiya) news: "I've been to Beijing many times, but this year was the most memorable because it was my first time receiving an award at the Beijing Film Academy!" On November 24, 2025, Zhang Junshuo, a master's student enrolled in 2025 in film and television creation at the School of Media, Xinjiang Arts University, was still thrilled when mentioning his award.

Photo shows Zhang Junshuo (M) honored with the Best Documentary award for his film Pasture Field Home at the 24^th International Student Film & Video Festival (ISFVF). （Photo courtesy of Zhang Junshuo）

Recently, the 24th ISFVF (International Student Film and Video Festival) was held at the Beijing Film Academy. Zhang Junshuo's documentary work Pasture Field Home stood out among numerous outstanding works from around the globe and won the festival's highest award in the documentary unit—Best Documentary.

Pasture Field Home takes the life of Nurjan Kapyh, a Kazak teenager from Shuimogou Township, Fukang City, Xinjiang’s Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and his family as a starting point. It portrays the ideological changes, choices, and adaptations of Kazak herders caught between tradition and modernity amid urban expansion and modernization.

This nearly 30-minute documentary was completed by Zhang Junshuo and his team over more than seven months, making over 30 round trips between Urumqi City, capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Shuimogou Township in Fukang City for filming, accumulating more than 1TB of footage.

"Lighting, seasons, and timing all required patience. For instance, scenes of herd relocation and some horseback riding shots—we wanted to capture the most genuine state of the family on camera," Zhang Junshuo recalled. What moved him most was an expectation expressed by Nurjan's father during a conversation: he hopes his son can attend university for a better future and looks forward to looking back on their current life through the lens ten years later. "The family's profound love for life deeply moved me and convinced me that our documentation was full of meaning," Zhang said.

Zhang Junshuo, a native of east China’s Shandong Province, earned his bachelor's degree in Radio and Television Directing at Xinjiang Arts University. Driven by his passion for Xinjiang and his field of study, he chose to remain in Xinjiang for his graduate studies. Over the years, he has traveled extensively across northern and southern Xinjiang through social practice opportunities. This past summer, under his supervisor's guidance, he went to Cele County in Hotan Prefecture and Kuqa City in Aksu Prefecture to document the work of two scientific researchers in Xinjiang.

"Xinjiang is an ideal place to experience multiculturalism and ethnic integration, providing rich material for my creative work and research," Zhang Junshuo said. This was his original intention in making Pasture Field Home—to showcase a real and dynamic Xinjiang amid changes through the story of an ordinary herding family. Through the growth of a teenager, it conveys the confusion, perseverance, and hope of people within the process of modernization.

“This festival allowed me to engage with many outstanding works from China and abroad and feel the diversity of cultures. In the future, I will continue to delve into the grassroots communities of Xinjiang to create more works that are close to life and reflect the pulse of our times," Zhang Junshuo said.

(A written permission shall be obtained for reprinting, excerpting, copying and mirroring of the contents published on this website. Unauthorized aforementioned act shall be deemed an infringement, of which the actor shall be held accountable under the law.)