Docu on Silk Road vies for top film fest awards
WHEN the 7-episode documentary series “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road” was broadcast on the Documentary Channel earlier this year, it was hailed by both critics and audiences in China amid a global interest in Chinese documentaries.
In mid-December, the series will vie for the top awards at the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival where it will also be looking for wider global distribution.
Producer Tang Jun, deputy general manager of DocuChina Co Ltd, says the series was already shown on Australia Plus TV in October, and will be aired on mainstream channels in Turkey, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
“Many overseas media groups have shown strong interest in the documentary,” Tang adds. “We will provide different edited versions to improve economic cooperation and cultural exchange between China and those countries.”
The documentary includes aerial, underwater, time-lapse and high-speed filming, plus CG post-production. With strong visuals and vivid human stories, the series is a record of history that also touches on the current state of affairs.
Professor Hu An’gang, a scholar from Tsinghua University, says the series’ historical accuracy and different perspectives to tell a story have impressed him the most.
Good human stories
“The film was shot in 20 countries,” says Professor Hu. “Knowledge about history, technology, civilization and geography is conveyed through interesting human stories.”
Since ancient times, the Maritime Silk Road has been the main artery connecting China and the rest of the world. It bridges the Pacific and Indian oceans and links China with Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and African countries. It was the route and witness to the 2,000-year history of China’s traffic with the rest of the world, its peoples, its economies and its cultures.
“Openness, mutual benefit, peace and friendship” were the foundation of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, a precious legacy of human civilization. China has now initiated the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with various countries. The route will play the same role today as it played in the past — putting China and its neighbors on the road of economic development and people-to-people exchanges.
With seven episodes, each 50 minutes long, the documentary narrates stories about shipping, produce, trade, science and technology, and touches on people’s dreams. It not only traces the historical glory and civilization of the past, but also focuses on the plans and achievements of building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. With historical background and stories, the past engages with the present, and the East embraces the West.
Mi Jinsheng, an official from China Communications Construction Co Ltd, says the series has a global vision and discusses the opportunities and challenges of economic globalization.
Around 50 real-life human stories are told in the series. The filmmakers, who took two years to research and shoot the film at different locales, train their lens on ordinary people living in countries along the Maritime Silk Road. Among those interviewed are navigator, farmer, fisherman, entrepreneur and engineer. Their lives reflect the rapid changes of time.
One impressive story is about a silk merchant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, who tries his best to revive Song Jin, a kind of silk that flourished more than 1,000 years ago. It faded out slowly but the merchant, surnamed Wu, holds a life-long dream of reviving it.
Wu imported advanced electronic jacquard machines from Europe and cooperated with Italian silk designers to blend traditional crafts with modern fashion. His efforts have brought new vitality to silk.
Chinese documentaries have been generating interest around the world for their abundant subjects and improved cinematography. A lot of them have been broadcast internationally to acclaims, including “The Palace Museum,” “A Bite of China,” “The Red Race” and “The Bund.” Insiders attribute the rising popularity of Chinese documentaries to China’s growing national strength and role in globalization.
“Historical documentaries used to take up a major chunk of the industry, but we now have diverse genres and styles to tell a lot more interesting stories,” Tang says. “Documentaries about nature, geography, folk culture and lives of ordinary people in the new era are popular among overseas broadcasters.”
The potential and the strength of Chinese documentaries to compete with foreign productions can be matched in the social and cultural category, according to Tang.
“China is in a new period of transition and development, which means a lot of good human stories can be found,” Tang says. “These stories about the changing lives and thoughts of ordinary people can be very inspiring and touching.”
Following “The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” DocuChina plans to produce more top-notch productions catering to global audiences.
Shooting for the second season of the reality series “Survivor Games” is underway in the United States. The company also plans to co-produce “Coast China” with BBC.
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