Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Qin, Wen-jie / All Films

Full Circle

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

In the summer of 2001, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a totem pole in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University was returned to its original owners' ancestors, a Tlingit community in Southeast Alaska. The journey of the pole began a hundred years ago when it was removed by the Harriman Expedition from the deserted village of Gash at Cape Fox. The totem pole makes its way from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Ketchikan, Alaska, where the Cape Fox community holds a ceremony to welcome home artifacts taken by the Expedition.

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The Sprouts of Capitalism in China

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:47:00 GMT

The Sprouts of Capitalism in China
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary tells the fascinating story of one of China's newly rich entrepreneurs, Yang Daquan, of Pengzhou City in Sichuan.

Mr. Yang came from a rich gentry family and was given away as an infant when his family disintegrated at the beginning of the socialist era. He grew up in the countryside as a poor peasant and came to the city in the late 70's as a construction worker. After years of struggle, he now owns a construction material plant and an ice cream factory and is a major investor in the local real estate market.

The film searches for the drive behind his determination for economic success and links his personal story to the turbulent history of China in the past several decades. We are introduced to Mr. Yang's wife, who is a full partner in running the family businesses, as well as the couple's eight-year-old son, who attends an expensive private school that concentrates on teaching foreign languages. Scenes of the family reveal Mr. Yang's memories of the past and his dreams for the future.

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To the Land of Bliss

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

To the Land of Bliss
Buy Now: $320.00

To the Land of Bliss is an intimate portrayal of the Chinese Pure Land Buddhist way of dying and living. In 1998, filmmaker/anthropologist Wen-jie Qin returned to her home region in Sichuan Province in southwest China to research the post-Mao revival of Buddhism. During her fieldwork on the sacred mountain Emei, an eminent monk named Jue Chang passes away. Wen-jie Qin captures the poignant time following his death when community members mourn the departure of their beloved teacher. The film follows those same people as they gather to escort the monk's body through a rite of fire, and to ultimately observe his consciousness rise to a paradise known as the Land of Bliss of Amita Buddha.

The filmmaker encounters intricacies of wonder and mystery alongside the Chinese Pure Land Buddhists as she searches for the door to Amita Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life.

"...The film is done with candor and sensitivity. It is informed enough to respect the voices of the people being filmed, but edited with a certain innocence that lets the humanity of its subjects shine through... [It] gives us a short peek into Buddhism on the ground, as seen by contemporary Chinese Buddhists".
—Professor Luis O. Gomez, University of Michighan

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Northeastern Anthropological Association Film Festival, Burlington, Vermont, 2003

Durango Film Festival, Colorado, 2003

Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 2002

Beeld voor Beeld Festival, Amsterdam, 2002

New England Film & Video Festival, Boston, 2002

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Film Program, 2002

4th Annual Roxbury Film Festival, Massachusetts, 2002

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We Are Not Beggars

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

We Are Not Beggars
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary depicts the life of several child street performers in a contemporary Chinese city. These children had been wandering the country as street performers for four years and are virtual "untouchables" to most Chinese.

The camera follows them in their daily rounds through the streets, performing acrobatic tricks and begging. It captures their daily struggles for survival and their dream to return home and go to school and looks at how these children face the challenges of a harsh environment with inner strength. Through this program, we have a window on a little-known aspect of Chinese society today and the realities facing so many of the world's children.

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Woman Being

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

Woman Being
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary looks at women's attitudes towards beauty and sexuality in contemporary China. By focusing on women's perceptions of their bodies, the video depicts the tremendous changes that have occurred in the lives of Chinese women in the past one hundred years.

Upon visiting her hometown, Chengdu, in southwest China in the summer of 1995, the filmmaker was fascinated by the rapid growth of the beauty industry in the city and the abundance of sexual images on public display. She visited various beauty salons, glamour photo studios, dance communities and "sexual hygiene" shops, and interviewed various women, and men on what they thought of love, sex and marriage.

Combined with colorful new images of China, this video presents women's honest voices speaking of what they want to be. It examines the changing meaning of being a woman in today's China and poses the question: To what extent are these changes contributing to the empowerment of women?

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