Tian Feng and His Institute
In November 1993, Tian Feng, a first-class composer in the China Central Philharmonic arrived in Yunnan Province with a donation worthy of 100,000 RMB from a military base in Tibet. With the money Tian established the Yunnan Institute for Preservation of Minority Cultures on the original site of the former Southwestern Forestry Institute in Anning County, thirty kilometers west of the provincial capital city of Kunming. This was to be China’s first private institute to preserve traditional ethnic minority cultures. The teachers and students of the Institute that Tian brought together were from remote villages. The teachers are all local talents. They taught the students their respective ethnic music and dances. Apart from tuition waivers, the students were also provided with free boarding. The opening of the institute attracted much attention; some hailed it as “China’s No. 1 School.” Seven years later, in June 2000, the school had to be disbanded due to financial difficulties. Having taken ten years to finish (1994-2005), this documentary records the lives and struggles of the students and teachers under the leadership of Tian Feng.

Directed by Liu Xiaojin, 180 mins; 2005; English Subtitles Read More »

Four Sisters from Baima 白馬四姐妹
The Baima tribe is a Tibetan branch that still maintained primitive matriarchy and lived on hunting not long ago. In 1999, as a protective measure against the disastrous floods in the area where the Baima tribe has always lived, the government decided to blockade the mountain area and hunting was no longer allowed. This forced the tribe to change its traditional lifestyle. The four sisters in the documentary are the most beautiful girls in the Baima tribe. Blessed with native talents like singing and dancing, they are among the first to explore the local tourist business. They make money through performing for tourists and this caused controversy among the villagers. However, some of them followed the four sisters’ example and joined the tourism business. The once quiet village is getting restless everyday ever since.

Directed by Zhang Tongdao, 68 mins; 2003; English Subtitles

張同道《白馬四姐妹》 68 mins, 2003 (Four Sisters From BaiMa)
白馬藏族是藏族的一支，散佈在四川甘肅交界的白馬溝。原來靠伐木、打獵為生，1998年長江洪水之後，中國政府施行天然林保護工程，他們賴以生存的山林被封，白馬人被迫尋找新的生活方式。四姐妹一家住在厄裡寨，率先搞起家庭旅遊，居然引來不少游客，也在村民間引發爭論。然而，不管同意還是反對，寨子上的遊客越來越多，不少村民效法四姐妹蓋起新房，開展家庭旅遊。昔日平靜的山村突然變得喧鬧。 （英文字幕）

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Mei Mei 美美
Mei Mei is a transvestite male actor who is eager to find his true love. Jury Award, Gwangju International Film Festival ‘05. Directed by Gao Tian, 82 mins; 2005; English & Chinese Subtitles （中英文字幕）美美是北京的一名反串演员， 她非常努力地工作，並真誠地尋找著真愛。 2005年8月韓國光州國際電影節評委會大獎 Read More »

Floating Life 飘
The drastic economic disparity between rural and urban areas in contemporary China causes large numbers of the rural population to pour into cities. The Chinese laws and regulations on the detention and repatriation of permit-less vagrants and beggars in the cities have made these new migrants susceptible to punishment and discrimination.

黄文凯《飘》 93 mins, 2005 (Floating Life)
當今中國城鄉之間的巨大經濟差異，引致大量農民湧入城市，然而落後的收容遣送制度使這批外來者成為了受制裁和歧視的目標物件。 Read More »

Pai Gu 排骨 CCC Member $3, Non-CCC Member $6
The story is talking about a junior high school graduate Pai Gu. He is from Jiangxi Province, selling pirate DVDs in Shenzhen to make a living. It is rather cynical that he sells only “artistic films”. He knows everything about those masters and their masterpieces. However, he has never seen one. He said that he possibly would not understand those films because of his poor education background. He could only understand those which were reflecting average person’s everyday life. 排骨，江西人，初中毕业。在深圳和朋友合伙卖翻版DVD，而且卖的全是艺术电影。 Read More »

High School Senior Year 高三(6/30 1:00 PM)
In the No.1 High School of Wuping County in western Fujian Province, 78 high school seniors have only one chance to advance to higher education, i.e. through taking the annual national entrance exam. Eighty percent of students in the school come from surrounding rural areas. Their parents tell them that if they don’t want to become farmers, the entrance exam to high education is their only chance to change their lives. Read More »

Modern Fortress Besieged 现代围城

Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out. Set on shanghai in 2006, this program is finding stories of fortress besieged and people who get in and out the fortress. How does the modern business fortress influence and change people’s attitude on marriage.
Directed by Zhou Ye and Lu Ming, 45 mins; 2006; English Subtitles

周叶，鹿敏《现代围城》 45 mins, 2006 (Modern Fortress Besieged)

婚姻是座围城，城里的人想出去，城外的人想进来。本片以2006年的上海为背景，在这座国际化的大都市中寻找现代围城的故事和进进出出的人们。在充斥着商业的现代都市，人们的婚姻情感发生着怎样的变化，又是什么影响和改变了人们对待婚姻的态度。

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The White Tower (6/17 1:00 PM)
There are more than 20 million deaf people in China and Henan Province, where this story takes place, ranks No.1 in China in terms of the size of its deaf population. Although situated in the central plains of China and boasting a rich history of prosperity in the ancient times, the province lags painfully behind in the midst of reform and development. Jing Ming and Wang Rui are both deaf. Jing Ming lives in Zhengzhou, and Wang Rui lives in Kaifeng, both in the Henan Province. Read More »

Guarding Shangri-La守护香格里拉
The place with the legendary name Shangri-la is situated in Jinjiang, Deqing Tibetan Minority Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The most spectacular site in this area is the Tiger Leap Gorge, where three spectacular rivers meet (The Jinsha River, the Lancang River, and the Nu River), a site that is listed in the UNESCO Directory of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The culture, the wildlife and the lives of the residents of the area are, however, about to be transformed by a new dam. The villagers living on both banks of the Jinsha River are worried about what will happen to the land they have lived on for generations. Protecting the natural environment of their home has now become a key issue. The people decide to oppose the planned changes and search to express their concerns and oppositions.
Directed by Xie Qin, Li Xiaoming, and An Tongqing; 40 mins; 2005; English Subtitles

谢钦 李晓明 安同庆 《守护香格里拉》 40 mins, 2005 (Guarding Shangri—La)
云南迪庆藏族自治州香格里拉县金江镇，就是传说中的香格里拉。“香格里拉、虎跳峡—长江第一湾流域世界上最壮丽的自然景观之一、三江并流世界自然遗产保护地”—这些字眼都是人们给予这片土地的美称！ 然而，就是这样一块美丽的多民族聚集的河谷地带，因为一个计划要修建的大坝，这里居民的命运和这里文化生态都将发生改变！于是金沙江两岸的村民忧心忡忡，除了依恋这片世代生活的土地，还有一个更重要的原因就是，村民们家门口的金沙江和山那边奔流南下的澜沧江、怒江，共同形成了世界著名的三江并流自然奇观，被联合国教科文组织列入了世界遗产名录，这让他们十分自豪，也使他们对家乡自然环境的保护更加重视。

面对改变的可能，一群世代居住在这片土地上的村民站了出来，他们要求获得知情权、参与权，希望通过他们的呼吁，保护原著民的利益，保护这里的文化生态，挽救这片土地以及这条河流的命运.

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Nostalgia 乡愁
Shanghai is filmmaker Haolun Shu’s hometown, where he also lives and works now. His family has an old house in Da Zhongli, one of Shanghai’s oldest neighborhoods. Shus had lived there for three generations including him. Now his grandma still lives alone at their old house in Da Zhongli. A bad news comes to him that Da Zhongli faces a new round of so-called “Urban Reconstruction”, which means that the whole neighborhood is going to be completely demolished. Then he decides to go back there with camera.
So this is a documentary about Haolun Shu’s revisit to the modest, warm Da Zhongli that has not been yet bulldozed to make way for gleaming skyscrapers, intertwined with his memory of the innocent 1980s in which he had spent living there, and the Shanghai that hadn’t yet become a modern cosmopolitan city full of skyscrapers.
Directed by Haolun Shu; 70 mins; 2006; English Subtitles

Check out the NPR review of this film, “NPR Report on Haolun Shu’s Doucmentary NOSTALGIA: A Cinematic Ode to Shanghai’s Vanishing world”, by Louisa Lim.

More reviews

舒浩仑《乡愁》* 70 mins, 2006 (Nostalgia)
舒浩仑的《乡愁》是一部关于上海的私人影像记忆，记录了一个将要拆迁的静安区石库门里弄大中里的当下和往昔，片中出现的人物都是和导演生活记忆息息相关的亲人和邻居，舒浩仑导演以平实的心态记录了作为宁波移民的祖孙三代在这个城市变迁过程里经历的一切，在这些耄耋老人的回忆里我们甚至可以感到我们自己的童年，这部记录片告诉了我们一个方法论，怎样在一个小的题材里反映城市的历史、文化和人文境遇 - 摘自卡夫卡•陆的影评

The film’s synopsis:

Winner of the Reel China 2006 Best Documentary Award, Shu Haolun’s Nostalgia is a breakthrough film about the transformation of Shanghai’s urban environment. When Shu hears that the neighbourhood of traditional shikumen housing he grew up in is slated for demolition, Shu takes his DV camera back home. Moving between chats with grandma, walks through the old alleyways, and re-enactments of his childhood, the result is an entertaining but pointed and poignant diary about the heavy price to be paid for urban development.

The Remark from the jury of 3rd (2006)Reel China Documentary Biennial:

The outstanding ambitious essay documentary film combines the diary form with interview and reenactments to bring the personal experience into the broader social issues through a unique way… It powerfully tells the tension between various factors in the process of society development.

The slow pace of the documentary turns out to be the artist’s strategy for capturing the rhythm of passing time. The use of black-and-white reenactment scenes on his old memories is quite effective, and so is the of 1980s’ music.

“It is not just a personal history, but also a critical look at social values. Who actually ‘owns’ this neighborhood? The residents? And who defines what is ‘best ‘ for the neighborhood, and for those who live there? These are important questions, and not just in China. This film raises questions that not only China – or, more accurately Shanghai – faces, but also questions that apply to cities around the world.”

故事梗概：

第三届Reel China当代中国纪录片双年展的最佳纪录片奖。舒浩仑的《乡愁》是一部关于上海的私人影像记忆，记录了一个将要拆迁的静安区石库门里弄大中里的当下和往昔，片中出现的人物都是和导演生活记忆息息相关的亲人和邻居，舒浩仑导演以平实的心态记录了作为宁波移民的祖孙三代在这个城市变迁过程里经历的一切，在这些耄耋老人的回忆里我们甚至可以感到我们自己的童年，这部记录片告诉了我们一个方法论，怎样在一个小的题材里反映城市的历史、文化和人文境遇（摘自卡夫卡 •陆的影评）

第三届Reel China当代中国纪录片双年展评委会评语：

作为一部出类拔萃而又有雄心抱负的散文式纪录片，此片结合了日记体裁、采访和再现，以别具风格的形式同时呈现了个人心灵和社会问题……它有力地传达了一个社会变迁过程中各种因素间的复杂关系、冲突与平衡。此片的慢节奏有效传达了时光流逝的节奏。黑白色调的再现部分使得旧时记忆愈发戏剧化，运用从前的音乐歌曲也有同样效果。这不仅仅是个人史，也是对社会价值的一次审视。究竟谁‘拥有’这片邻里？这里的居民吗？谁来决定对于这个居民区和这里的人们来说，什么是‘最好的’？这些不仅仅是中国面临的问题。这部纪录片毫无疑问反映了中国社会——或更精确一点说，反映了上海——但它提出的问题是世界各地的城市都在面临的。

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