Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Diamond in the Dunes

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was withdrawn‎. Withdrawing as nominator. There was enough archived coverage provided in the discussion to demonstrate that WP:NFSOURCES is passed by the topic (non-admin closure) Yue🌙 21:27, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Diamond in the Dunes

[Hide this box] New to Articles for deletion (AfD)? Read these primers!

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

No signficiant coverage in reliable sources. This 2009 film is a debut documentary that was shown on PBS in 2014 but had little to no impact aside from that publication. This is the only remaining promotional article created by the film's producing company, whose account was blocked shortly after this article's creation in February 2009. All the content is copy-and-pasted from the film's promotional materials; for example, the documentary was published to YouTube by the director with a brief description shared by this article. Yue🌙 18:00, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Film, China, and United States of America. Yue🌙 18:00, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Weak keep - I found this and this. Here are a couple of other primary sources promoting the documentary [1] and [2]. The last two sources don't help notability but do confirm the film independently. TheDeafWikipedian (talk) 19:25, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Intercept piece does not provide in-depth coverage of the documentary, only mentioning it in passing to support their point of the director radically changing his politics. While Darren Byler, the editor of The Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia blog, is an expert in the particular field of Xinjiang politics and society, I would argue one blog post is not sufficient grounds for standalone notability. Yue🌙 19:32, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And just saw this minor source which has some film background. TheDeafWikipedian (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 19:31, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The extent of the coverage of the documentary in that source is the same as the description in the YouTube video, i.e. a brief summary of the plot. I would not consider that significant coverage either per WP:NFSOURCES. Yue🌙 19:37, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.
1. Millward, James (2015-03-23). "How to Grow Big, Beautiful Papayas: On the Baseball Film in Asia. James Millward on "Diamond in the Dunes" (2014), "Kano" (2014), and "Million Dollar Arm" (2014)". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2025-09-06. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  The review provides 927 words of coverage about the subject. The review notes: "Diamond in the Dunes unfolds on the western frontier of China, a desert environment far from the lush paddies and torrential rains of southern Taiwan. Yet similar themes of discipline, development, race, and colonial status underlie this tale of baseball’s improbable emergence in Xinjiang — a vast region of sandy basins and towering ranges conquered by the Qing empire in the 18th century and inherited by 20th-century Chinese republics. The film profiles Parhat Ablat, a Uyghur from the dusty town of Payziwat, outside Kashgar, in predominantly Muslim and Turkic-speaking southwest Xinjiang. Parhat’s father having been murdered when Parhat was a boy — the spike in his own root — Parhat is the man of the family."
2. Byler, Darren (2014-09-02). "Baseball in Xinjiang and the Documentary "Diamond in the Dunes"". Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia. Archived from the original on 2025-09-06. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  The review notes: "Perhaps the film’s narrative could do a bit more to convey the rawness of personal struggle that accompanies the drama of coming of age in Ürümchi. Even more concretely, the film doesn’t show the viewer the way Parhat organized a Uyghur Little League. It doesn’t show the viewer how those young Uyghur kids were scouted by ... Yet, despite these narrative gaps, the documentary is rare (given the current circumstance in Xinjiang) in the way it develops long-term intimacy with its characters as they change over the years. The access Rufo was able to gain by framing the film around a seemingly innocuous game like baseball opens up the sweep of time in Ürümchi through the small dramas of life."
3. Cunningham, Maura Elizabeth (2019-08-23). "End of Summer Reading". China Channel. Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2025-09-06. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  The article provides 299 words of coverage about the subject. The article notes: "Years ago, I heard about a short documentary film that told the story of Uyghur baseball players in Xinjiang. I made a mental note to find out if it was streaming online, which I predictably forgot to do. But reading about the ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang recently reminded me to look up the movie, which led me to historian Jim Millward’s 2015 LARB review of Diamond in the Dunes, which is available on Amazon Prime."
4. Shallit, Bob (2009-04-28). "Capital filmmakers touch base with China's Uighurs" (pages 1 and 2). The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original (pages 1 and 2) on 2025-09-06. Retrieved 2025-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  The article notes: "How about one on the healing power of baseball in China's "Wild West"? That's the strategy of two young Sacramento documentary makers who are nearing completion of their second film, called "Diamond in the Dunes." Set in China's rural Xinjiang province, it's a look at the harsh racial divide between the majority Han and the ethnic minority Uighurs (pronounced "Weegers"). The film's focus: a baseball team that serves as the region's only activity "where segregation is broken," says Keith Ochwat, the 24-year-old co-founder of Sacramento's Documentary Foundation."
5. Fernandez, Josh (2009-06-11). "Keith Ochwat and Chris Rufo's school of doc". Sacramento News & Review. Archived from the original on 2025-09-06. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  The article notes: "Their latest documentary project, for example, is a film titled Diamond in the Dunes: It’s set in China’s Xinjiang Province and tells the story of Parhat Ablat, a young Muslim from western China’s deserts. Ablat fights racial segregation through the game of baseball. And from Ablat, we learn about the strict division of the Muslim Uighers (pronounced “WEE-gers”) and the ruling Han Chinese. There’s even a love interest and some fantastic cinematography. Rufo, a relative newcomer to the art of documentary filmmaking, says the process of creating Diamond in the Dunes was very much a learn-on-the-job experience. ... Over that last month of cutting film, both Rufo and Ochwat have sorted through 70 hours of footage and 30 hours of interviews, abandoning original ideas and letting the story of the baseball team speak for itself. If all goes well, they’ll be finished by the end of summer, with a local premiere sometime in November. Then, they’ll take Diamond in the Dunes on a tour of art houses and also shop it at film festivals."
6. "美國導演拍紀錄片新疆大學棒球隊變明星" [American Director Makes Documentary: Xinjiang University Baseball Team Becomes Stars] (in Chinese). 2011-07-21.
  The article notes: "最早開始關注新疆大學棒球隊的是美國導演Christopher Rufo。他在2008年製作了一部90分鐘的紀錄片《Diamond in the Dunes》（譯為「沙丘裡的鑽石」），追蹤帕爾哈提‧阿布來提和新疆大學棒球隊的訓練和生活。CNN網站報導，Christopher Rufo的朋友2008年在新疆大學留學，也是棒球隊的隊員。他對在這個按民族分班、分宿舍的學校裡有著這麼一個跨民族、跨專業和跨年級的棒球隊非常感興趣，於是說動了Rufo來這裡拍一部片子。Rufo收拾起行李，在烏魯木齊住了九個月，跟隨阿布來提回了喀什，也跟著球隊上了賽場。"
  From Gogole Translate: "American director Christopher Rufo first began to follow the Xinjiang University baseball team. In 2008, he produced a 90-minute documentary, "Diamond in the Dunes," which follows the training and life of Parhat Abulaiti and the Xinjiang University baseball team. CNN reported that a friend of Christopher Rufo, who had studied abroad at Xinjiang University in 2008 and was also a member of the baseball team, was intrigued by the multiethnic, multidisciplinary, and multi-grade baseball team in a university divided by ethnicity. He persuaded Rufo to come and film a film there. Rufo packed his bags and lived in Urumqi for nine months. He then followed Abulaiti back to Kashgar and joined the team on the field."
There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Diamond in the Dunes to pass Wikipedia:Notability#General notability guideline, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject".
Cunard (talk) 10:51, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: Pinging Eva UX (talk · contribs), who removed the proposed deletion. Cunard (talk) 10:51, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Keep: per the coverage identified. Thank you for taking the time to present it here. - E.—UX 21:06, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.