German film makers focus on ordinary lives
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Those who seek a taste of German cinema can watch documentary offerings in special screenings in the next few days. They range from "Shanghai Fiction" about four lives in the metropolis to "Dust" about minute ever-present particles.
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A production still of documentary "Shanghai Fiction," directed by Julia Albrecht and Busso von Muller [Shanghai Daily] |
The documentaries are hosted by the Cultural and Education Section of the German Consulate General in Shanghai and the Goethe Institute, where some are screened.
Four have already been screened in the Magnolia International Documentary Awards (MIDA) section of the Shanghai Television Festival.
"Shanghai Fiction" was screened last Friday to a full house at the Goethe Institute. It's part of a screening of European documentaries and won awards at the DOK-Film Festival at Leipzig and Duisburger Filmwoche in 2009.
The one-and-a-half-hour film features four unconnected people who live in Shanghai and describes their lives. There's no narration, some dialogue and a little music.
The award-winning film in color about a mind-boggling metropolis is directed by Julia Albrecht and Busso von Muller.
The four are poor migrant construction worker Yuan Jilei; German architect Johannes Dell who works on urban planning; Professor Liu Wei, a former Red Guard who lost his passion and ideals after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76); and a hard-headed businesswoman Hebe.
"The four characters are in very different situations," co-director Albrecht says. "We followed their lives not to show their difference, but their similarities. They all face the same problem: how to live, both materially and morally."
One reason the directors chose China to delve into the issues is that China's current situation and rapid urbanization reflect Europe's own rapid changes and social dislocations, she says.
The film begins with Yuan's story. He comes from Anhui Province, does odd jobs, was turned down for a job as postman and now works in construction.
A voice asks: "What's your ideal life?"
"I don't want an ordinary life." Yuan says.
"Dreams?"
"People of my class don't have dreams," Yuan says.
The film also follows him home to a typical rural Chinese wedding, giving a sense of Yuan's roots and how different his rustic countryside home is from Shanghai.
The second character introduced is Dell, a professional in a modern and comfortable environment, helping draw up blueprints for the city's future.
The camera cuts between Yuan eating in a shabby restaurant and Dell in his office discussing future plans with his office team.
Liu is a university professor and former Red Guard, who first appears before the camera adjusting his old Red Guard cap in front of a mirror. He was among the youngest of the young revolutionaries.
He speaks fluent English and talks a lot about philosophy.
"If you see yourself too happy, there must be something wrong," he says.
Hebe is a shrewd businesswoman, who mixes English in her Chinese. The middle-aged woman still believes in late Chairman Mao Zedong, but has given up on idealism.
"I learned the trick in business: It's success that survives," she says.
The documentary shifts among four different worlds and the audience needs to pull it all together for themselves.
"To connect the fragments in the film, you give the spectators small fragments. You choose what you show," Albrecht says. "It's also our point of view; we try to be open, and to transport the viewers."
The European Documentary Film screening in Shanghai aims to bring outstanding European films to a Chinese audience.
"I think that documentaries have a closer relationship with what's going on," says German Consul Wilfried Eckstein. "The documentary is closest to our idea of the process of understanding the country."
All admission is free.
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