May Festival 2008
Time & Date:26 April to 5 May, 2008
Venue:Caochangdi Workstation
Organizer£ºCaochangdi Workstation/ Living Dance Studio
Co-organizers: Beijing Storm, BORNEOCO/ CultureXpress£¨the Netherlands£©
 
Support£º
DOEN FOUNDATION, the Netherlands
China Independent Documentary Archive Website
Borneoco/CultureXpress Foundation, the Netherlands
the Public DV Magazine
the Contemporary Art & Investment Magazine
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to China
Goethe-Institute China
the Culture Programme of the European Union
Chin-A-Moves coop-Europa
Kunststiftung NRW
Center of Documentary Film Archive
Iberia Center for Contemporary Art
Independent Film Archive of ICCA
Curators: Wu Wenguang, Wen Hui
Project manager: Mao Ran
Co-Programmers: Constance Vos, Dineke Koerts, (The Netherlands)
Stage Manager: Zheng Fuming
Technical Director: Su Ming
Coordinator: Pei Yanfeng
Publicity: Zhang Xiaoyan, Yan Lifang
Graphic designer (poster): Song Ling
Graphic designer (brochure): Li Zhen
Translation: Dong Haiying, Leslie Tai
English proofing: Odette Scott
Program assistants: Xie Lina, Odette Scott
Sound/Video: Wang Wenli
Light: Zhang Long
Technician assistant: Jia Xiaonan
Assistants: Li Xinmin
Volunteers: Pei Huifeng, Li Youjie, Song Tian
Jury members of the Young Choreographers Project: Wen Hui, Wu Wenguang, Tian Gebing
The Mentor of the Young Choreographers Project: Jayachandran Palazhy
Jury Members for the second phase of the Young Choreographers Project 2008: ¡°the further development of selected creations¡°: Wen Hui, Jayachandran Palazhy, Tian Gebing, Zhang Xian, Yinan Li, Wu Wenguang
"This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission
cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained
therein"
May Festival 2008
Caochangdi Workstation is pleased to present the May Festival 2008, now in its third year. As in previous years, the festival comprised of two main programs: PERFORMANCE SPACE and FILM FORUM. In this year's PERFORMANCE SPACE, eight young choreographers from Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Lanzhou will present their most recent works as participants of Caochangdi Workstation's Young Choreographers Project 2008.
PERFORMANCE SPACE is proud to present three lectures by international dance and theatre directors. Lectures will discuss trends and recent developments in contemporary theater production in Europe and China.
Also on the PERFORMANCE SPACE program is the launching of Chin-A Moves, a Sino-European exchange project in the field of contemporary dance made possible with support of the Culture Programme of the European Union. The Chinese part of Chin-A Moves will start with a young choreographers exchange project with twelve young dance makers from China and Europe. The six Chinese choreographers, who are invited to take part, all participated in CCD¡¯s previous Young Choreographers Projects (2006 and 2007). The six participants from Europe are selected by theatre and festival directors from the participating European countries. Chin-A Moves has also invited Indian choreographer Jayachandran Palazhy (Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts) as the exchange program's artistic facilitator. Jay will also be the mentor of this year's Young Choreographers Project.
FILM FORUM will carry on the legacy of previous years' events, with documentary film screenings in center focus. Especially recommended is Caochangdi Workstation's China Village Self-Governance Project. Three years after the project's inception in 2005, Caochangdi Workstation is pleased to present three new just-completed feature-length films by the villagers. Each film is aptly entitled "My Village 2006", featuring real-life stories from villages in Shanxi, Shandong, and Beijing suburbs. Village filmmakers and fellow villagers, behind the same lens, portray a vivid reality that takes the viewer into their very own backyard. There will be a special screening of independent documentary program, "New Works in Documentary Film," featuring the lives of members of a peasant household from the West Haigu area in the Northwest region, and a verite portrait of a junior high school student from Dazhou, Sichuan province in the Southwest region, which will allow us to submerge into deeper experience of their realities.
To celebrate the diversity of the film/video visual storytelling medium, we will also be presenting the "Experimental Video and Student Short Films" program during this year's FILM FORUM.
This year, renowned Dutch documentary filmmaker Frank Scheffer, will also be gracing FILM FORUM with a retrospective screening of four of his most representative films. For the past twenty years, Frank Scheffer has created countless documentary film achievements, dedicated to documenting the contemporary experimental music genre and its musicians. Sponsored by the Netherlands Consulate in China and Dutch DOEN Foundation, Caochangdi Workstation is honored to have Frank Scheffer, as co-director, alongside Wu Wenguang, of this year's Young Documentary Film Training Project.
On-the-spot, hands-on production training continues to be one of Caochangdi Workstation's most important emphases during May Festival. China Village Self-Governance Project is a long-term project Caochangdi Workstation began in 2005. This year's festival will be hosting a post-production training workshop for villager documentary filmmakers, who have been invited to come to Beijing to participate in this year's May Festival events and will have a chance to edit their final film projects. Forty participants of last year's "Young Documentary Film Training Project," from all over China, will also be in attendance. The May Festival strives to provide a platform and interface for the creative exchanges that will help prepare last year's participants to enter into phase two of their documentary productions.
>>PERFORMANCE SPACE <<
>>FILM FORUM <<
>>Schedule of May Festival 2008 << |