Program sees young directors tell China’s story
CHONGQING — Usama Kalim, a 27- year- old university student who grew up in rural Pakistan, always longed to live in a big city. At least, that was until he experienced rural life in China.
While in China, Kalim joined the Looking China Youth Film Project and directed a short documentary about a young Chinese man named Lang Xiaoyong who gave up his job in the big city and chose to start a business near his hometown in the countryside.
The project, co- hosted by the Huilin Foundation and the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture since 2011, aims to present Chinese culture to the world through the lens of young foreign filmmakers and promote communication between China’s younger generation and those overseas.
Kalim’s protagonist, Lang, was born in Shiping village, Southwest China’s Chongqing. In 2015, he went back to his hometown to develop rural tourism.
Kalim learned from Lang that tourism benefits villagers by providing them with job opportunities and raising funds for local primary schools.
“I am so touched by his story. He came from a poor family, but he didn’t let that hold him back,” says Kalim.
“Lang was always one of the top students in the class and endeavored to get a well- paid job in the city. He could have continued his urban life, but he chose to come back and do something for his hometown,” he adds.
In the village, Kalim found that people he met always wore a smile and would say hello to him warmly, with some villagers also offering him local delicacies, he says.
“Rising from a backward situation, China has made a serious effort to develop, and now that China owns a number of the world’s cutting- edge technologies, it has begun to help other countries,” says Kalim, adding that he sees Lang’s life experience as a typical example of the rapid and positive changes in the country.
Over the past decade, a total of 610 young foreigners have visited China through the program, producing 609 short documentaries.
Joseph Dwyer, an American director, has joined the program twice to record the development of transportation in China.
Six years ago, curious about how people moved around in populous cities, Dwyer visited North China and made a documentary called Through Tianjin.
Last year, he was invited to China again and made a short video on Jingzhang Railway that links the cities of Beijing and Zhangjiakou. Completed in 1909, it is known as China’s first independently built railway.
“There is a relentless pace of construction in China to connect the country together with modern transportation and high- speed rail,” says Dwyer.
“Right now the world is very tense, and relationships between countries are not at their best, but I think through the continued free exchange of ideas and culture through programs like Looking China, we can work together to promote a better shared understanding between cultures and create a more positive world,” says Dwyer.
Adria Guxens Chaparro, a 28- year- old Spanish director with an interest in Chinese culture, was invited to China last year and presented 10- minute documentary I Don’t Think it is Going to Rain at the Malaga film festival in Spain.
His video records the daily life of an elderly man and his grandson in Shanghai and reflects on the intergenerational relationship specific to China. “These unique emotional bonds between generations make China great,” he says.
Chaparro says this program helped him discover new experiences, and broadened his artistic horizon.
He says because of the COVID- 19 pandemic, he cannot visit this year, but he plans to join the program again to go deeper into rural areas and find out more about that part of the country.