Eight documentary films by foreign young directors "Looking at Shanghai" tell the story of Chinese culture in the new era

Oriental Network reporter Liu Xiaojing reported on May 30: Yesterday (29th), the screening ceremony and closing ceremony of the 2021 "Look at China Foreign Youth Film Project Shanghai Tour" was held at the Vancouver Film Academy in Shanghai. Eight high-quality short films, such as "Love Shanghai", "Song of New China" and "Baby from Generation to Generation", appeared one by one, showing many themes with Shanghai characteristics and the atmosphere of the Chinese era, such as caring for autistic children and taking babies from generation to generation, and also allowing the audience to understand the Chinese culture in the lens of foreign young directors.

"To see China, you have to look at Shanghai, because Shanghai is one of the symbols of China." Gao Feng, Distinguished Professor of Beijing Normal University and former deputy director of CCTV, said that in the past 17 days, eight young foreign directors from South Korea, Mexico, Ukraine, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Botswana and other countries have completed eight wonderful documentary short films with the theme of "family, homeland and home country" and with the one-on-one assistance of Chinese volunteers.

The film screening is divided into four parts, each of which is screened as two short films. Among them, "I Want to Have a Home" and "Fish in the River" focus on blind dates and autistic children respectively, telling simple and moving stories with real and natural words, conveying the desire of each of us ordinary people for home. "Flowers on the Sea" and "Love Shanghai" focus on the Shanghai qipao and Shanghai ballads with very Shanghai characteristics respectively, showing the colorful charm of Shanghai from the dual perspectives of sight and hearing. "China's Security - Guardians of the Homeland" and "Generations with Babies" focus on groups and phenomena with the characteristics of traditional Chinese culture. The last films screened were "The Man in a Boat" and "The Song of New China".

In Gao Feng's view, these works are excellent. He told reporters: "We can't simply use the requirements of the documentary to see these works, in fact, in the process of creation, Chinese and foreign young people have searched and felt all the way, they are not only moved to tears by the dreams of every ordinary and kind ordinary person, but also deeply shocked by the national enthusiasm contained in them." Home is the smallest country, the country is tens of millions, the touching feelings of home and country in the short film not only triggered the creator's whimsical ideas, but also left an extremely deep impression on every audience present. ”

Jiang Weimin, executive dean of the Shanghai Vancouver Film School of Shanghai University, said that there were many unexpected places in this event, and it is precisely because of this that it has left a deeper memory. "In this year's event, foreign young directors and Chinese producers explained and excavated the concept of 'home' yesterday, today and in the future through various ways from the inside to the outside, from the outside to the inside. This year's directors are very creative, and they have given these seemingly ordinary themes special imagination space with their whimsy. ”

It is understood that the event was sponsored by the Institute of Chinese Culture and International Communication of Beijing Normal University and the Huilin Cultural Fund, and jointly hosted by the Shanghai Vancouver Film Academy of Shanghai University and the School of Journalism and Communication of Shanghai University. Since its launch in 2011, the "See China Foreign Youth Video Project" campaign has invited 610 foreign youth to China to use their eyes to show The Story of Chinese Culture. The "See China" project has launched activities in Hubei, Beijing, Liaoning, Zhejiang and Shanghai.