Project Description
Forty Miles North
Length : 10 ’58’
Director: Andie
This film is a modern exploration of innovation and inheritance through the lens of a factory in the Lanzhou New Area. It is a search for depth in a seemingly cold industrial setting, and tackling the obstacles of documentary filmmaking. Ultimately, the obstacles provide the insight and we are forced to challenge our preconceived notions of craftsmanship in the modern world.
On the lily farm
Length: 9 ’40’
Director: Tara Kavanaugh
The story of a family of farmers whose most recent generation has turned away from the lily farm that has supported their family for generations. The film takes the point of view of the daughter who observes her mother strength and fortitude as a farmer in the steep mountains of Lanzhou. She recounts the pattern in her family of giving up their dreams out of a necessity to return to the farm but how she does not have any intention to do so herself.
Stories Crafted In Hands
Length : 10 ’30’
Director: Selena Raskin
“Award-winning book publisher and designer Xu Jinlin carves his skills and knowledge into “manual books” that bring storytelling into the hands of the reader as they shape and carve their way through the story’s journey. As he continues his career, he draws attention to the need to innovate in a time of constant digital evolution, and the importance of passing his skills onto a younger generation. Everyone has a story, they just need a way to tell it.”
The Shepherd of Yongtai
Length: 10 ‘ 52 ‘
Director: Luke Isaiah Gene Catena
This film follows Yu Xizhong. He is a Shepherd at Yongtai Village in Jingtai County. Through his eyes we learn about the history of the town, and what it takes to be a Shepherd there. When I arrived to Yongtai , It was clear that the lives of the people who live there don ‘ t even remotely resemble my own. I was given an up close look at their world, and my intention was to show exactly that…
Still Turning
Length: 10 ’25’
Director: Jesse Pickett
Water. The essence of life. It flows through us, as it flows through Earth itself. The Yellow River, the second longest river in Asia, can attest to this. Duan Xu, a scholar of the Ming dynasty saw the importance of water—the powerful element. By inventing the Lanzhou Waterwheel, Duan Xu channeled the power of the Yellow River to irrigate local crops. This brought prosper to the dry lands of Lanzhou. The art of making the Lanzhou Waterwheel was all but lost in the 21 st century, until Duan Xu’s 20 th descendent Duan Yicun took it upon himself to study and learn the craft. Now 74 years old, Duan Yicun finds the waterwheel market chaotic and competitive…
Built on Clay
Length: 9 ‘ 54 ‘
Director: Vanessa Quintero
The film shows Yue Yunsheng’s artistic life. He is a master of clay sculpture in Lanzhou. Through his words, we walked into his clay sculptures.
Truth Kindness Beauty
Length : 10 ‘ 25 ‘
Director: Robert Duhaime
Truth Kindness Beauty is a film that explores the importance of promoting and retaining traditional values in the face of modernity and globalization. Since opening to the world in the 1970’s China’s pace of change has been rapid and challenging to their traditional cultural structures. The magazine Duzhe has been a pillar of good values and positive stories helping satisfy people’s curiosities since the early 1980’s. The guiding principles of Duzhe are Truth, Kindness and Beauty…
Connection
Length: 9 ’01’
Director: Colin Bell
In this short documentary, we meet Li Hong – a studied engineer who has dedicated his career to the China State Grid Corporation as a UAV engineer and operator. His work with the unmanned wiring aircraft has allowed the corporation to connect remote villages to power, that would otherwise be impossible. He is an emissary to the day and night. To that end, in the film, we also visit one of these villages, Mazichuan, Dingxi, to hear what power has done for people of the village.
Peace by Piece
Length: 10 ’58’
Director: Kathleen Rebecca Mann
When Li Haiming was eight years old, his uncle taught him the art of cloisonné enamel painting. Almost five decades later, he is considered the master of this unique and elaborate folk art. Through financial difficulties and the constant effort of attempting to gain awareness, Li Haiming has fought alongside his dedicated wife and children to keep this art alive and pass it down to other generations…
