DOCUMENTARY FORUM

As in years prior, the Documentary Forum portion of the May Festival has included screenings of and discussions about newly finished films, special feature presentations of a specific director’s work, and a workshop to provide training and open discussion regarding documentary films. In short, our focus is on providing a space for interactive presentations and discussions. Specifically, the content consists of work from the Villager Documentary Project, New Works in Documentary Film, the Filmmaker in Focus: Edna Politi, and Experimental Video and Student Short Films, as well as a workshop hosted by Swiss filmmaker Edna Politi.

Starting from 2005 until this 4th consecutive year of the Villager Documentary Project, three villager filmmakers have continued with us: Shao Yuzhen, Zhang Huancai, and Wang Wei have each completed their second feature length film, all titled, “My Village 2007” Jia Zhitan, who rejoined us last year, has now completed two feature length films, “My Village 2006,” and “My Village 2007”. Now these four filmmakers will bring their latest material to Caochangdi Workstation to begin editing their third feature length films, “My Village 2008,” in the weeks just prior to the May Festival. At the same time, they will openly share and discuss their latest completed films, “My Village 2007” (including Jia Zhitan’s “My Village 2006,” which was also recently completed). These five films originate from villages in Beijing, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Hunan, and represent the humblest, yet most populous part of the population in a nation that to this day still rests on agricultural workers forming 70% of our population. We can watch as villagers who live this life everyday also document this reality, as if “life goes on, and the DV cam follows,” providing a completely new mode of video production as well as personal expression.

In the New Works in Documentary Film, Leslie Tai, the director of “Sister Heaven, Sister Earth,” is an overseas Chinese woman, born in America where she also grew up and completed her training in film. Perhaps her Chinese blood is what brought her back to China to pursue her first filmmaking experience, or perhaps as a woman, the story of a girl coming from the countryside was of particular interest to her. The other new documentary is Huang Weikai’s “Disorder ”, a film unlike any of the documentaries we usually see. The footage is a huge compilation of material filmed on the streets, with large audiences of all different types gathered around. The work’s name tells us what our goal for producing this film was.

Since, with the support of Swiss Films, we were able to invite Peter Liechti to showcase his films at our October Crossing Festival in 2008, we are pleased to continue by inviting a second director for our Filmmaker in Focus: Edna Politi segment. As we showcase Edna Politi’s films, she will also be hosting a documentary film workshop, similar to documentary workshops we have hosted in the past. After a rigorous selection process, eight filmmakers who submitted their films will participate in the workshop, bringing the rough cuts of their newest films to the workshop table for screening and open discussion under Edna Politi’s helpful direction.

Villager Documentary Project

My Village in 2007

Directed, filmed, edited by Shao Yuzhen
Organized & Produced by CCD Workstation
70 mins./2008

About the film:
I’ve been filming with a DV camera for three years already. I followed my first film, My Village 2006, with another feature length film, My Village 2007. This film records some of the changes that occurred in my village in the year 2007, some of the villagers’ hard labor, some cultural events, folk customs, marriage and burial rites, events put on by the Village Committee, the annual soil contracting, and the election that takes place every four years. I also filmed my family’s life; if I want to continue this task, and make good films, I cannot walk away from the support and understanding of my family members. So, as I persist in making films, I am deeply concerned with my family’s attitude. As I’ve filmed my village, I’ve aroused attention from various media outlets in 2007: Shunyi Television Station, Beijing Broadcasting Station, Jingjiao Daily News, Beijing Television Station, and Xinhua News Agency all came one by one to interview my family and myself. Every time they came, my camera was also ready to film them. This is like a classic Chinese saying, “You must give back what is due,” like giving them a taste of their own medicine!

Filmmaker’s words:
I am a village housewife, already almost 60 years of age, with only a junior high education. Before, I did not even know what a documentary was. In 2005, I became one of ten people chosen to participate in the “Villager Documentary Project,” and was fortunate enough to become familiar with Mr. Wu and his Caochangdi Workstation. Under Mr. Wu’s and the Workstation’s help and support, I was able to complete filming for my short film, “I Film My Village,” as well as the filming and editing of my two feature length films, My Village 2006 and My Village 2007. Before, I was a simple instrument for planting crops and caring for children, but now I’ve taken steps forward by learning to film using a DV camera, edit footage on a computer, and send and receive emails on the internet. I realize this is a giant leap in my life, like I’ve taken flight. Since then, I’ve become fascinated with documentary. Based on my circumstances, I can really only film my village and the people around me, film my fellow villagers’ basic everyday activities. The people in front of my lens are just minor characters, but I believe that these minor characters?although they live in the lower levels of society?actually form our society’s roots and foundation. I am also one of them, living among them; as I film my village, my hand carries out what my heart desires, without much conflict. In the future, if circumstances allow, there will be My Village 2008, 2009, 2010… I think, after many years have passed, these films will constitute a video archive of my village. When I go to heaven, I will have no regrets?I’ll have left my footprint in this world.

Filmmaker's Bio
Shao Yuzhen, female, born in 1950, has spent all her past years living and working in Shaziying village, located in Beijing’s Shunyi district. Shao joined Caochangdi’s Villager Documentary Project in 2005 and completed a documentary short entitled, “I Film My Village.” Since then she has completed two feature length projects, My Village 2006 and My Village 2007.

My Village in 2007

Directed, filmed, edited by Wang Wei
Organized & Produced by CCD Workstation
75 mins./2008

About the film:
My Village 2007 is a film featuring some scattered shots that I filmed in the year 2007, during meaningful and not so meaningful times. From my perspective, village life is just very everyday like this?so everyday that it frustrates me a little. Although my fellow villagers?living as 21st century Chinese farmers?use cell phones, watch television, and may even have computers (for the more well off), the identity of a farmer is still etched onto his body, etched onto my body.

As farmers, we can only look on helplessly as the agricultural duties are cancelled, as grain farmers are given subsidies. We watch helplessly as the prices of seed and fertilizer skyrocket, and as the price of meat follows the steady climb of the price of pigs, not to mention prices of feed, kerosene, pesticides, and coal. We like to chat about what prices aren’t rapidly climbing, but there are fewer and fewer topics that fit the bill. We also watch helplessly as the village’s sand, worth tens of thousands of yuan, is given away to other people when it shouldn’t even have been sold; or when those who should be elected are never elected, and a small village director beats someone until his eardrum burst and no one did a thing. I had no choice but to watch helplessly as a band of strangers came to my chicken shed in the middle of the night, chased away my guard dogs, and made a show of hitting me over the head with a rod. I could only watch helplessly as my blood flowed form the wound.

I can only watch helplessly. I watch. I am watching.

These events make up our lives. I can’t always capture everything and weave it into my film. I recognize that I am far from being a professional, so much so that I can’t even say I am filming all that diligently or conscientiously. I can only comfort myself with this thought: that I never chose this life.

Filmmaker’s words:
This is my second feature length film, if you can truly count this as a documentary film. In this great era of violent change in China, I think being born as a villager offers no escape. In fact, you could say that we are struggling in the lowest depths. The village where I live is very simple. I spend most of my time working to make money and survive, occasionally picking up my small camera in order to capture the people and events around me.

Little by little, I sense that I’m getting old. As each hellish situation plays out, I no longer thrust myself into it without a care, but find myself considering the consequences, considering where the lines have been drawn. Maybe in a few more years, I’ll become just like them: only discuss things behind people’s backs, no longer have the courage to argue, and no longer believe that everything can change for the better. Then again, maybe there’s still some difference: I know that our silence encourages this kind of society. This society’s every problem should not be the responsibility of just a few people, but the undertaking of the flesh and blood citizens. I am not an innocent victim, but a silent accomplice.

Filmmaker's Bio
Wang Wei, male, was born in 1977 into Guanyinsi Wangjia village of eastern China’s Shandong Province. He participated in the Villager Documentary Project in 2005 and completed his first short documentary, “Land Distribution.” Since then, he has completed two feature length projects, My Village 2006 and My Village 2007.

My Village in 2007

Directed, filmed, edited by Zhang Huancai
Organized & Produced by CCD Workstation
80 mins./2008

About the film:
The year 2007 wasn’t anything special. Compared to 2006, our village’s lifestyle had not changed much. We still ravage the depths of our soil for food, explore every corner of our village for sustenance, and even scour every corner of the city to survive. We are like a flock of wild chickens with no farmer pouring feed; our village allows us all only a place to lay down our heads, while the city’s promise of work and sustenance calls us to scatter to the four winds.

The weather in 2007 was also very temperamental. Speaking for my village, the spring and summer were both extremely arid, so the summer harvest was lacking. The autumn rain was good, so the fall harvest was successful. The film also features a grain farmer’s complaints. He voiced his grievances before the camera in hopes that it would be screened before government officials, perhaps bringing him some compensation for his troubles; clearly, he greatly overestimated my abilities.

The winter of 2007 also brought several snowstorms, so shots of the snow make up the beginning and end of my film. The snow continued for four or five months, blanketing the village in a world of silver white. I love the village in its clean, white brilliance?perhaps too much, as there are far too many shots pertaining to the snow.

There was also a very important event in our village in 2007: choosing the representative members-at-large for our county and village. The members of our village associations say, “This has nothing to do with us,” but half of them still participated in the election. I filmed this whole process, and edited it into my film. As for the rest, it’s mostly just us common village folk living our everyday lives: our fussy, sentimental days; planting in the fall, harvesting in summer; then planting in summer, harvesting in the fall; people are born, grow old, get sick, and die; we eat, drink, and be merry; gamble our nights away; sell pigs and chase rabbits… Life, it just goes like this. So, all I can do is let my camera capture it.

Filmmaker’s words:
Who says chickens can’t have any fun? I am a chicken with a DV camera hanging around my neck. Whenever I approach my fellow chickens, as long as they don’t see my camera, they’ll say whatever they want. They’re never prepared that I might, like the Monkey King, suddenly materialize a camera from my pockets, the snakeskin bag on my back, the shelf of my pushcart, or the bamboo steamer slung around my arm. This is where things get entertaining: they are surprised, shocked dumb. But they return to normalcy quickly, get accustomed to this extra piece of equipment by my side.

I use my camera to record me and my fellow chickens as we “scavenge” for food. Although the other chickens have plenty of words for me?like “What, you have nothing better to do?”, “What the hell are you filming this for?”, “Look at you, busy as hell!”, one chicken even said, “Here he comes again, looking for trouble!”?but in reality, they’re saying these things lightheartedly, with smiles on their faces. I think this is because no other chicken has ever this intimately and faithfully, or for so long a period, recorded their everyday experiences, their every joy, frustration, and sorrow.

My lens is always trained on my fellow chickens, and even the chicken leaders get jealous: “Why do you film any old thing you see?” Perhaps the subtext of their criticism is that I’ve never filmed the leaders in our village. But I hold to this thought: Those chicken leaders have no lack of this kind of experience, but we chickens lack it. So, I make a habit of only filming my fellow chickens, and filming the chicken leaders only if they happen to be around.

Filmmaker's Bio
Zhang Huancai, male, was born in 1960, in Shijiazai village in the Shanxi province. He is a farmer who occasionally leaves his village to find odd jobs in the city. Zhang joined the Villager Documentary Project in 2006, with whose support he finished his first documentary short, “A Futile Election.” Since then, he has completed two feature length projects, My Village 2006 and My Village 2007.

My Village in 2006

Directed, filmed, edited by Jia Zhitan
Organized & Produced by CCD Workstation
75 mins./2008

About the film:
I always carried my camera, endlessly filming the people and events around me. During this process, I came into contact with various situations that were to the leaders’ benefit and to my ridicule. My wife felt my constant filming never amounted to even half a substantial benefit, so she grew frustrated and complained. Only the other villagers found this never-before-seen “foreigner’s toy” to be curious and refreshing, asking me to film their every joy, frustration, and sorrow. While I was documenting the everyday lives of the villagers, we also relied on some filmed testimony to represent disadvantaged minority groups, using the facts to pour out their troubles to the higher ups. We were actually able to help an 83-year-old woman who had accidentally fallen and broken her leg. We went to the county government to look for the county official, and managed to help her get 800 yuan medical treatment reimbursement. Because of this, the villagers consider me the reporter on our own soil, a man who participated in an event in the emperor’s city (Caochangdi), and has much influence and ability.

Filmmaker’s words:
From the start, I simply relied on the DV camera in my hand to painstakingly record the history and process of our developing Co-op. I figured, regardless of whether this Co-op fails or succeeds, it is still a true history of a spontaneous farmers’ social movement. Even if it’s a mere attempt, I want to dedicate it to the experts concerned with the “Three Rural Problems” (agriculture, the countryside, and farmers), and use these rich sources to petition for their support, so that ultimately we can increase peoples’ salaries and help them live better lives.

Just as the villagers were eagerly participating, the county secretary spoke these words: “Old Jia, there are so many things you can do, why do you insist on doing this?”

“This is the central spirit…” I held the camera and trained it at him, and he shot me a glare, saying, “What are you filming?! Even if a government reporter came, if I let him film he could film, but if I didn’t let him film, then he couldn’t film. You, you’re just a common people’s organization!” As he talked, he walked out the rear door, and at that point the situation took a sudden turn. A lot of sensible people thought the county wouldn’t even lift a finger to help: ‘This isn’t one of those group like Falungong, is it?

Even though there were so many of them who didn’t believe, everyone still stuck together, learning policy, mobilizing, studying technique, running as messengers... Not long after, we were noticed by the city and county media, and they came one by one to interview and report on us. The village government actually welcomed them warmheartedly, and during this time I stumbled upon an excellent eating opportunity: I got to enter the usually restricted village government’s best canteen.

Being an official is really no better than just having power. The words the secretary spoke cannot be changed easily, so we must trudge through as we build this Co-op; but at least from the beginning they have not controlled the DV camera in my hand, so I will continue to record the everyday needs and happenings of the villagers around me.

My Village in 2007

Directed, filmed, edited by Jia Zhitan
Organized & Produced by CCD Workstation
80 mins./2008

About the film:
My Village 2007, my third work after My Village 2006, is a continuation of my 2005 short film, Quarry. It continues to follow the large and small issues of my village, including the difficult process of starting the “Shimen County Dedicated Orange Co-operative,” and our opening elections for both the county and village representatives. At one point, I trained my lens on group leader Liu Dingcai and asked him to discuss the elections. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he admitted, “The representatives we’re choosing from have all been handed down to us from above. I asked Party member Jia Zhiyun the same thing, and he told me he could only talk if I put my camera away, fearing that if any of my material got on TV it would be inappropriate.

Also, the South Creek River that runs through our village was being heavily polluted by the Wang Yan Coal Mine. Let’s not talk of people drinking the water, even wearing clothes washed in the river caused sores on people’s skin. At the insistence of my fellow villagers, and with the County Television Station’s support, I started to film the situation as a way of appealing to the higher authorities for a resolution to the problem. After I started filming, the Village Secretary advised me not to “air our dirty laundry,” claiming that no enterprise can run without negative effects. When I tried filming in the coal mine, Manager Li wanted me to present my “press credentials.” Of course, I had none to present, so he exploded and threatened to destroy my camera. My heart jumped into my throat; I was so afraid that if he swiped my camera and destroyed it, this passion of mine would have no future.

Filmmaker’s words:
Recording the everyday life of my village, its history and meaning, has deep and far-reaching implications. For one, it gives the villagers a voice, and it can also help resolve some of the issues they face, particularly ones in which they feel helpless.

During the election, both the Party Member and Group Leader were afraid to speak truthfully in front of my camera: “What if my words are exposed?” So, thanks to some of my newfound skills, I shut my LCD screen and capped my lens, but left the camera running, so that I could continue recording their innermost thoughts. They didn’t realize this, so they began to say what they were really thinking. TV stations will never broadcast this, but I captured rare material, showing everyone the truth about our elections: who the candidates were, the fact that they were handpicked by the Village long ago and plopped before our District, and that the villagers voting are really just idle puppets.

Interestingly, the villagers asked me repeatedly to film the pollution of the South Creek River. The County Television Station sent people over, in the spirit of cooperating with the Central Government’s Environmental Administration. They said they wanted to use my DV footage that speaks out for the villagers to make a documentary, so that I can participate in an annual film awards selection at the provincial level. Their words excited me.

During the process of filming the pollution of our river, the Village Secretary spoke menacing words; and at a village representative council meeting, the director of the local police station pointed at me fiercely, saying I was filming illegally and commanding me to stop. When I wouldn’t respond, they’d invite me to “discuss” matters at the Village Government, saying that I’m well-known and shouldn’t ruin my reputation, and that I should aid the government.

The Central Government’s policies regarding environmental pollution are good, and they are truly concerned about villagers’ welfare. But once the policies reach the lower levels of government, the leaders all shield one another, and make corrupt deals with businessmen. Before, there was a fund of 2 million or so yuan that was intended for pollution management and claims, but even that was embezzled by them for other uses. The masses reported them for an audit, so they were supposed to submit their records, but they refused.

The villagers were infuriated; they gave generously and it was always, “Five for you, ten for him.” They nominated Chen Jingshu, Wu Yuman, and myself to appeal to the Provincial Capital at Changsha, and also to send our appeal materials and a DVD of my shots of the pollution issue to Prime Minister Wen at the State Department.

Filmmaker’s Bio:
Jia Zhitan, male, was born in 1950 in Yuanyichang village, in China’s Hunan Province. Jia joined Caochangdi’s Villager Documentary Project in 2005 and completed a documentary short entitled, “Quarry.” Since then, he has completed two feature length projects, My Village 2006 and My Village 2007.

New Works in Documentary Film

Sister Heaven Sister Earth

Director: Leslie Tai
Length: 103 minutes
Production: 2008

About the Film
My mother started visiting mainland China twice a year in 2005 as a way to appease my stepfather's longing to return to his roots. They bought a tiny apartment in Guangzhou, and local friends were not easy to come by. It was in her tri-weekly visits to the local foot massage parlor that my mother met Fenfen, a Hunanese migrant girl. She had made her way to the big city, with millions just like her, to find work. We might not have had anything in common, had she not also been born in the Year of the Pig. It was in this humble fact that my mother found poetic injustice. It was only the blindness of fate that two girls of her daughter's age couldn't have been born into more differing circumstances. Fenfen lost no time in maneuvering herself to the right side of my mother's favor, and became my mother's number one gal, massaging her feet, running errands, and accompanying her for jaunts in the city. A guide, companion, personal attendant, daughter.

My mother would often tell her stories of me then currently studying abroad in Europe. I would likewise hear stories about a nice peasant girl named Fenfen. But one day, my mother delivered a shocking story of domestic abuse. Fenfen had called my mom for help, and had thus indebted herself.

By the time I arrived in China in 2007, I met a girl who knew more about my mom and stepdad's habits and preferences than I, a girl who addressed me as Big Sister. Strangely enough, I did not envy her. Instead, I had my reservations.

Was she genuine in the goodness she showed to my family? Or by all standards of Chinese practicality, did she have motives for financial gain? With my camera, I wanted to find out exactly what the girl was doing with my family, and I handed her a camera to film her own life. I entered this world, where it was impossible for me to tell who owed who what, and to test the fate of my own idealism. I had to see if trust, loyalty, and compassion, were too idealistic of notions for real world China. Or if a Chinese expression I'd heard time and again meaning a person who has no way out, will resort to anything, was true. "A harried dog, will jump the fence."

Filmmaker's Bio
Leslie Tai (b. 1983) was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She has a Bachelors' Degree in Design | Media Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Leslie was recipient of the 2007-08 U.S. Fulbright Grant for documentary filmmaking in China. Sister Heaven Sister Earth is her first feature-length documentary.

Disorder

Director: Huang Weikai
Length: 58 minutes
Production: 2008

About the film:
The faster Chinese urbanization advances, the stranger peoples’ behaviors and moral standards become. The film combines more than twenty street scenes into a collage, revealing absurd facets of a city's life, such as a man who hasn’t received indemnity and is threatening suicide, a lunatic joyfully dancing in the middle of traffic, pigs running wildly on a highway, pedestrians risking their lives to cross a busy street, a conflict over counterfeit money, the discovery of a cultural relic on a construction site, a polluted river where official representatives swim, a determined laborer fishing, an escaped alligator hiding and more.

Filmmaker’s words:
I have been collecting DV footage of various lengths from a dozen DV filmmakers for two years. I decided to make a unique city symphony, even if there is risk of being unconventional. It certainly is not like Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera, and Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi (life out of balance), it is not simply a combination of photogenic and scenic images and composed music, but a tapestry interweaving various sounds and events.

Filmmaker's Bio
HUANG Weikai, born in 1972 in Guangdong Province, China, studied Chinese painting for 15 years since he was 10 years old. In 1995, graduated from the Chinese Art Dept. of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He used to work as a cinema promoter, art editor, graphic designer, movie script writer and cameraman. Since 2002, he has been directing independent films and has made Disorder (2009), Floating (2005), Laden’s Body Could Be Nothing But a Copy (2002).


EXPERIMENTAL AND SHORT STUDENT VIDEO SCREENINGS

Public Space (the group of short film)
My Grandma (12 min)
Private Garden (5 min?
Hu Fusheng (5 min)
Old People (25 min)