Exploring China Through Documentaries & Film
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EEXXPPLLOORRIINNGG CCHHIINNAA TTHHRROOUUGGHH DDOOCCUUMMEENNTTAARRIIEESS && FFIILLMM National Consortium for Teaching about Asia East Asia Resource Center University of Washington Tese Wintz Neighbor Summer Institute 2014 EXPLORING CHINA THROUGH DOCUMENTARIES & FEATURE FILMS NOTE FROM TESE: If you do not have a decade or more to watch all of these movies(!) please check out this website from time to time for short documentaries from the Asia Society. Download free and use in your USING THIS RESOURCE GUIDE classroom. Note: The information regarding each film ASIA SOCIETY - CHINA GREEN has been excerpted directly from the http://sites.asiasociety.org/chinagreen/ website cited. Most of these sites include 1- China Green, a multimedia enterprise, documents 3 minute trailers. This is not a China’s environmental issues and strives to serve as a comprehensive list. Teacher guides are web forum where people “with an interest in China and available at a number of the documentary its environmental challenges can sites listed below and identified by the find interesting visual stories and Categories: share critical information about Air & Water resource icon. the most populous nation in the Energy & Climate Land & Urbanization world whose participation in the Life & Health There are different ways to access these solution to global environmental NGOs & Civil documentaries and films. Some can be Society problems, such as climate Tibetan Plateau downloaded directly from the web, some change, will be indispensable.” Wildlife can be found at local libraries, on Netflix, Pictures Talk Video Series or at the East Asia Resource Center. They http://sites.asiasociety.org/chinagreen/pictures-talk- can also be purchased directly from the video-series/ producer or from online stores. At the time From rising mountains of garbage to colorfully polluted of this printing, all films marked with an rivers to desertifying grasslands and melting glaciers, asterisk (*) are available in their entirety China is faced with mounting environmental and for free online. ecological challenges. “We are teaming up with Chinese NGOs and other interested partners to create a series of INTERESTED IN MORE CHINA- short video programs about these issues.” RELATED RESOURCES, SEMINAR See other Asia Society including sites CLASSES, BOOK CLUBS, FILMS, China File http://www.chinafile.com/ LECTURES? CONTACT: Surf Multimedia (viral videos, infographics, East Asia Resource Center photogalleries), plus reports, blogs, library, etc. [email protected] China Dreamers – 2014 (21 minutes) http://jsis.washington.edu/earc/ http://www.chinafile.com/multimedia/video/chinese- dreamers In a country that has long defined its interests China specialist/NCTA Seminar leader: in collective terms, people are no longer waiting for their Tese Wintz Neighbor goals and sacrifices to be decreed from above. In [email protected] Sharron Lovell’s insightful short film, she shows us the Chinese Dream not as a slogan but as the possession of the ordinary young men and women who will determine China’s future. Photographs: Tese Wintz Neighbor 1 Exploring China Through Documentaries and Film August 19, 2014 DOCUMENTARIES (Listed in chronological order of film release) FALLEN CITY—2014 (52 MINUTES) http://www.pbs.org/pov/fallencity/ In today’s go-go China, an old city completely destroyed by a devastating *Watch the film earthquake can be rebuilt — boasting new and improved civic amenities — in an online until astoundingly quick two years. But, as Fallen City reveals, the journey from the August 28, 2014. ruined old city of Beichuan to the new Beichuan nearby is long and heartbreaking for the survivors. Three families struggle with loss — most strikingly the loss of children and grandchildren — and feelings of loneliness, fear and dislocation that no amount of propaganda can disguise. First-time director Qi Zhao offers an intimate look at a country torn between tradition and modernity. Trailer, classroom clips, interviews: http://www.pbs.org/pov/fallencity/additional-video.php Lesson Plan: http://www.pbs.org/pov/fallencity/lesson_plan.php Discussion Guide: http://www.pbs.org/pov/fallencity/discussion-guide.php * CHINA DREAMS: THE DEBATE—2014 (11 MINUTES) http://vimeo.com/80820310 Since Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the 'China Dream' as his official slogan in November 2012, many people inside and outside the PRC have been asking 'What is the China Dream?' Is it for national greatness or for a comfortable life? This 11 minute video explores how academics and artists in China and Singapore answer this key question about Chinese identity, politics and international relations. THE MOSUO SISTERS—2013 (80 MINUTES) http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c850.shtml A tale of two sisters living in the shadow of two Chinas, this documentary by award-winning filmmaker Marlo Poras (Mai’s America; Run Granny Run) follows Juma and Latso, young women from one of the world’s last remaining matriarchal societies. Thrust into the worldwide economic downturn after losing jobs in Beijing and left with few options, they return to their remote Himalayan village. But growing exposure to modernity has irreparably altered traditions of the Mosuo, their tiny ethnic minority, and home is not the same. Determined to keep their family out of poverty, one sister sacrifices her educational dreams and stays home to farm, while the other leaves, trying her luck in the city. The changes test them in unexpected ways. This visually stunning film highlights today’s realities of women’s lives and China’s vast cultural and economic divides while offering rare views of a surviving matriarchy. Trailer: http://www.wmm.com/advscripts/wmmvideo.aspx?pid=220 THE AFRICA-CHINA CONNECTION: A THRIVING BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP— 2013 (50 MINUTES) http://www.films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=30656&r=SR While Europe and the U.S. were once the destinations of choice for workers migrating from low-wage countries, Africans looking to raise their standard of living have now proclaimed China “the new promised land.” This program goes to Nigeria Town in Guangzhou to investigate the strong economic relationship between Africa and China and what it may mean for the West. Political scientist Achille Mbembe (On the Postcolony) provides background on this partnership, in which roughly $30 million in cash and goods moves from China to Nigeria every day and China opens its borders to even more African workers. In addition, World Bank 2 Exploring China Through Documentaries and Film August 19, 2014 vice president Ian Goldin explains how migrants can be a source of economic dynamism, something that Europe sorely needs but may miss out on due to its immigration policies. CROCODILE IN THE YANGTZE: INSIDE A CHINESE INTERNET JUGGERNAUT— 2012 (77 MINUTES) http://www.films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=25764 Starting out as an English teacher and small-scale Web site builder, Jack Ma became China’s first Internet entrepreneur, gradually assembling the Alibaba Group—a digital empire that faced off against eBay and won. This award-winning independent film was created by an American who worked in Ma’s company for several years. It draws on a vast archive of footage shot between 1995 and 2009, presenting a candid portrait of the visionary businessman and documenting Alibaba’s journey from scrappy start-up to stratospheric success. The result is an astonishingly relevant chronicle, told from the standpoint of an American fly on a Chinese wall, so to speak—an eyewitness account of the strategies Alibaba put in place during the period in which China’s economy began to rival that of the U.S. HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE — 2012 (88 MINUTES) http://www.pbs.org/pov/hightechlowlife/ High Tech, Low Life follows the journey of two of China’s first citizen reporters as they travel the country – chronicling underreported news and social issues stories. Armed with laptops, cell phones, and digital cameras they develop skills as independent one-man news stations while learning to navigate China’s evolving censorship regulations and avoiding the risk of political persecution. !!The film follows 57-year-old “Tiger Temple,” who earns the title of China’s first citizen reporter after he impulsively documents an unfolding murder and 27-year-old “Zola” who recognizes the opportunity to increase his fame and future prospects by reporting on sensitive news throughout China. !! From the perspective of vastly different generations, Zola and Tiger Temple must both reconcile an evolving sense of individualism, social responsibility and personal sacrifice. The juxtaposition of Zola’s coming-of-age journey from produce vendor to internet celebrity, and Tiger Temple’s commitment to understanding China’s tumultuous past provides an alternate portrait of China and of news-gathering in the 21st century. This site includes book lists, discussion guides, interviews, bios, slideshows, etc. Trailer and classroom clips: http://www.pbs.org/pov/hightechlowlife/additional-video.php Lesson Plan: http://www.pbs.org/pov/hightechlowlife/lesson_plan.php MY REINCARNATION—2012 (90 MINUTES) http://www.pbs.org/pov/myreincarnation/ Filmed over 20 years by acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox, My Reincarnation chronicles the epic story of exiled Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his Western- born son, Yeshi. As Namkhai Norbu rises as a teacher in the West, Yeshi, recognized from birth as the reincarnation of a famed Buddhist master, breaks away to embrace the modern world. Can the father convince his son to keep the family’s spiritual legacy alive? With intimate access to both the family and H.H. The Dalai Lama, Fox distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation and destiny. Trailer and classroom clips: http://www.pbs.org/pov/myreincarnation/additional-video.php Lesson Plan: http://www.pbs.org/pov/myreincarnation/lesson_plan.php SOMEWHERE BETWEEN—2012 (88 MINUTES) http://www.somewherebetweenmovie.com/ In profiling Chinese adoptees in contemporary America, Linda Goldstein Knowlton has created a deeply moving documentary illustrating that even the most specific of experiences can be universally relatable.