Written by Gertjan Zuilhof, 21 July 2010
When I first had the idea to invite some African filmmakers to make a movie in China it brought me in a kind of self-inflicted shock. The idea did not really came to me, it more or less jumped on by back when I was not watching my back properly. For a while I could only dream of permits, visa, censorship or worse. But I got used to the idea especially since not everybody to whom I told the plan looked at me as if I should see a doctor.
Bar Girl Burning Papers at Night in Songzhuang, Xiaopu village
The first thing to do was to find the right partners in China to help me out. I don't speak more than ten words of Chinese (and sometimes they don't understand me even when I say one of the ten) and in fact I did not spent much time in China before. I know a few nice mainland Chinese filmmakers though and I know some people who know even more of them. But I did not need to look hard or far. I knew that Ying Liang (who most recently won a Tiger in Rotterdam for his short Condolences) was connected to a kind of private or independent film school, so I contacted and asked if he was interested in a crazy project. And he turned out to be interested like the artistic manager of the school Zhu Rikun.
Ying Liang and Zhu Rikun with owner and daughter of their favorite restaurant
The school is the Li Xianting Film School that is connected to Li Xianting's Film Fund. Li Xianting is a mythical art critic who paved the way of much of the international and local successes of modern Chinese art. The offices of the fund are in his former private house in Songzhuang and it is one of the nicests and most tasteful villa's I have seen in China. Modest in its scale and designed with a fine mix of the traditional house that was the base and a modern sense for space. I promise that for a next blog I will take some pictures, for the moment you will have to do with the sign on the door.
Knock on the door of Li Xianting's Film Fund
The former house of Li Xianting is situated in the famous artist village (I would say artist town) of Songzhuang. Legendary Li Xianting was instrumental in many things and so also in the blossoming of the artist town. It got him the nickname 'the Godfather of Songzhuang'. There is a highly informative Wikipedia entry on Songzhuang and Li Xianting. Please look over there if you are interested in facts, dates and numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songzhuang
Road Side Map of Xiaopu Art Village Songzhuang
The numbers are dazzling like so often in China. Anybody connected to the tiresome renovation of the modern art museum in the capital of my country should go around Songzhuang on a bicycle for an afternoon and stop talking till the next century. They make modern art museums here like they are pizza huts. I have not a great sense of direction and the map I could not read (above my ten words), but I lost count after pizza hut number twelve.
Almost finished, yet another Songzhuang art museum
I guess every visitor to China for the past decade or more will have noticed that China is one big building site. But it is one thing to see high rise offices and hotels emerging like mushrooms or you see modern art museums and art galleries coming out of the ground like the same mushrooms.
Washing Worker after Day of Labour
Anyway with all this hard work around me I quietly set up my boot camp for the African filmmakers. The first one to arrive is the artist Xenson from Kampala, Uganda. He got his visa which gave me hope for the others. Rikun is working hard to get Amour Memy out of Conga Brazzaville. I will spare you the details. It brought back my initial visa dreams.
Zhu Rikun filming in Fan Hall of the Li Xianting Film School