Bird's Nest: Herzog & De Meuron in China
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61 Documentary Films & DVDs from & about Including 8 NewAsia Releases and 20 Films on DVD for the first time! Bird’s Nest: Herzog & de Meuron in China A Film by Christoph Schaub & Michael Schindhelm Many events of the Beijing 2008 Chinese architects Ai Wei Wei and Olympic Games took place in the Yu Qiu Rong, plus additional commen - brand new, 100,000-seat National tary by cultural advisor Dr. Uli Sigg, the Stadium. Plans for this massive structure former Swiss Ambassador to China. began in 2003, when Swiss architects “Not only exciting architectural Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron were insights, but also a view of the Chinese selected by the Chinese government to mood in times of rapid transition.” design the new stadium, which because of —NZZ its curved steel-net walls was soon dubbed 2008 SilverDocs by locals as the “bird’s nest.” Documentary Festival BIRD’S NEST chronicles this five-year effort, 2008 Cinema de as well as Herzog and de Meuron’s design Paris Festival for a new city district in Jinhua, involving 2008 Solothurner Filmtage, hotels, office and residential buildings. Switzerland Both projects involved complex and often 88 minutes | color | 2008 | Order #AS08-01 difficult negotiations and communications Sale/DVD: $440 between two cultures, two architectural Chapters: traditions and two political systems. 1. Researching Chinese Tradition 2. Conceiving the Design In addition to following the progress of 3. East-West Communication both projects, from initial design and 4. Crisis of Confidence groundbreaking, BIRD’S NEST features 5. Architectural Boom in China 6. Stadium as Public Sculpture interviews with Herzog and de Meuron, 7. Reflections on the Accomplishment ICARUS FILMS 2 ICARUS FILMS A Decent Factory: Nokia in China Losers and Winners A Film by Thomas Balmès A Film by Ulrike Franke & Michael Loeken Two cultures collide in this unusual In addition to the respective sensations of tale of globalization, which docu- loss and accomplishment, LOSERS AND ments the dismantling of a massive WINNERS reveals the disparity between feel- smelting complex in Germany, which has ings of national pride—the German workers been closed, for shipment to and reassembly contemplating retirement or the search for in China. new jobs, and the Chinese giddy with prospects of improvements in their personal Overseen by 30 German “shutdown lives sure to come with modernization. managers,” a community of 400 Chinese workers works sixty-hour weeks, under “Excellent… superb… Highly Recommended.” often danger ous conditions and pressures —Educational Media Reviews Online and perks from their Chinese managers, to “Has much to offer students of China, complete the disassembly as quickly as Germany, globalization, sociology, and possible. labor.”—Education about Asia LOSERS AND WINNERS chronicles the Best International Feature, 2007 entire process, featuring interviews with the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival When Nokia sends business ethics advisors The advisors’ final report to Nokia managers Germans, who must watch as their former to examine conditions at a factory in confronts the multinational corporation with workplace is broken down into moveable Film Critics Award, 2007 Chicago International Documentary sections, and the Chinese managers and Shenzhen, China, that supplies parts to the the dilemma now facing an increasing Festival Finnish electronics firm, they uncover number of Western firms who outsource low-paid workers, isolated from their homes shocking labor abuses. their labor to countries such as China—how and families. 96 minutes | color | 2007 | Order #AS08-03 Sale/DVD: $398 is it possible to balance the profit motive A DECENT FACTORY documents in fasci- Tensions quickly become evident between with a sense of social responsibility? nating detail the inspection of the plant. the Germans and Chinese over workplace During their tour the Nokia team investigates “An honest, brutal and sometimes humorous issues, especially the Germans’ concerns work and safety conditions, payroll records, look at the culture and climate surrounding about safety measures and environmental and potential environmental hazards. today’s business world as it collides with issues, and the Chinese indignation over Through interviews with factory managers as consumer desire for ethically-made prod- their hosts’ cultural condescension and well as some of the young Chinese female ucts.”—Chart Magazine vocal criticism of the lazy work habits of employees who work and live in “Globalization the “old foreigners.” dormitories on the site, they with an in - learn of poor labor/management human face. relations, substandard housing An excellent and meals, and violations of even documentary.” Chapters: the less stringent Chinese laws —Le Nouvel 1. Arrival on minimum wage and working Observateur 2. Culture Clash 3. Exemplary Workers conditions. 4. Dismantling 5. Thinking of Home Chapters: 6. Accidents 1. Nokia’s Ethical Supplies Assessment 2005 Midwest Conference 7. End of an Era? 2. Louise Jamison, Business Ethics on Asian Affairs Consultant 3. Visit to Supply Factory in China 79 minutes | color | 2004 | Order #AS08-02 4. Interview with Factory Managers Sale/DVD: $440 5. Interviews with Workers 6. Feedback for Factory Managers 7. The Report to Nokia Call Toll Free: 800.876.1710 3 4 ICARUS FILMS The Men Who Would Conquer China Nanjing: Memory and Oblivion A Film by Nick Torrens & Jane St. Vincent Welch A Film by Michaël Prazan Although the Nanjing Massacre, a as “the righteous,” including John Rabe, series of war crimes committed by Minnie Vautrin and John Magee, whose Japanese troops in China’s capital efforts saved many lives. Although featuring during the second Sino-Japanese War, contentious commentary by advocates for occurred seventy years ago, the nature and either side of the controversy, NANJING also extent of these atrocities remains the subject shows a Chinese and a Japanese history of continuing historical debate and the teacher who, unlike their government source of political tensions between China leaders, are working to construct a shared and Japan. memory of the events. During the military occupation, Japanese troops engaged in arson, rape, looting and executions of prisoners of war and civilians, including women and children. Debate continues to rage over the extent of the atroc- ities and the number of deaths, with some Japanese denying any atrocities took place, but credible estimates of non-combatant deaths range from 100,000 to 300,000. How do you buy state-owned Chinese considerable profit to multinational corpora- companies, support the country’s transition tions. As foreign investment in China rapidly “A remarkable documentary... to capitalism, and make a fortune at the approaches the $100 billion level, and social retraces with precision the same time? THE MEN WHO WOULD inequality and unemployment continue to unfolding of events... gives a CONQUER CHINA follows the efforts of rise, the film offers a revealing portrait of the frightening example of the New York investment banker Mart Bakal and vast social changes taking place. manipulation of history.” —Télérama his well-connected Hong Kong business “Highly Recommended! Engaging... wildly “Engrossing.. hopes to partner Vincent Lee as they join forces to informative and entertaining... a tremendous absorb this lapse in collective create the perfect mix of economic and polit- piece of work.”—Educational Media Reviews memory and bring the ical opportunity in China. Online people of China and Japan The film chronicles their efforts in New York, 2005 Chicago International closer together.” Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai over a Documentary Festival —Chicago International three-year period. We join them as they 2005 Midwest Conference Documentary Festival engage in difficult negotiations with Chinese on Asian Affairs NANJING: MEMORY AND OBLIVION uses 2007 Chicago International government bureaucrats, tour Chinese facto- Sale/DVD: $440 archival footage and photos, interviews with Documentary Festival ries seeking Western investment, attend busi- 58 minutes | color | 2004 | Order #AS08-05 Chinese survivors and eyewitnesses, former 2006 International Festival of ness luncheons and official receptions, and Sale/DVD: $390 Japanese soldiers, and both Chinese and Audiovisual Programs become embroiled in their own disputes and Japanese government officials, historians and 53 minutes | color | 2007 | Order #AS08-06 arguments. Chapters: 1. Start lawyers, to document the events of “The Rape Sale/DVD: $390 The business scheme they succeed in 2. Mart Bakal: Emerging Markets Specialist & of Nanking” and to show how the interpreta- Chapters: 1. Core of the Conflict signing with the Chinese government Vincent Lee: Tung Tai Group tion of this history has become politicized. 3. The Partnership 2. Orders involves the purchase of failed state-owned 4. Lee’s Political Connections 3. Atrocities In addition to shocking accounts of atrocities 4. The Righteous companies, which Bakal and Lee plan to 5. Bank of China’s Bad Assets witnessed and committed, the film profiles 5. Denial restructure through improved management 6. Partnership Tensions 6. Renewed Nationalism 7. Northwest Securities: A New Trade Route those foreigners residing in Nanjing, known techniques, in order to then resell them at a 7. Shared Memory See Page 39 for Ordering Information 5 6 ICARUS FILMS Old Men Now on Sunrise over Tianamen Square A Film by Lina Yang A Film by Shui-Bo Wang A National Film Board of Canada Production Chinese