[DL] - Chinese Shorts

Two short Chinese documentaries will be screened at Die Rote Loge in Berlin, an "avant goût" of Directors Lounge's forth-coming special on independent Chinese films.

In association with Zhu Rikun (Fanhall Studio), two Chinese shorts will be screened during the first part of the night. These works are independent documentaries, shot in DV. They are portraits of the common people in mainland China, each differ in circumstances, but both are set in a railway environment.

Carriage (Xu Xin, 2004, 18 minutes)
Spring Festival is coming. In China, it is the time for family reunion and people keep up the tradition of returning home for the New Year celebration, especially the migratory workers who have been away from their hometown all year long struggling for a living in big cities. A cheap train ticket is their first choice. So begins the annual overcrowding of railroad transportation...

SARS in Beijing (Wang Shiqing, 2003, 15 minutes)
In the spring of 2003, Beijing was hit by an outbreak of atypical pneumonia called SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The epidemic sparked off a public panic and soon, people were fleeing the city in droves. On May 8, 2003 I decided to go to Beijing’s West Railway Station to film and interview some of the travelers. This film is a record of the events I witnessed that day in the station.

Rote Loge Simon-Dachstrasse 22, (next to Revalerstrasse)
S- and U Warschauer Brücke
Berlin.