Crossing Festival, 2011
REMEMBERING, STILL
23 September to 4 October 2011
Venue: Caochangdi Workstation
Organizer：CCD Workstation/ Living Dance Studio
Support：Beijing Storm, China Independent Documentary Archive, Swiss Films,
Frank-Wu Brothers Grant for Young Chinese Documentary Filmmakers
  
Curators: Wu Wenguang, Wen Hui
Project manager: Mao Ran
Coordinators: Zou Xueping, Zhang Mengqi, Luo Bing, Li Xinmin
Graphic designer: Luo Bing
English interpreters: Song Tian, Qing Qing
English translation: Zhang Ling, Marilyn Ong, Zhou Xuying, Weng Diedie, Zhuang Jiayun, Guo-Juin Hong, Darran Lim
English Proofreading: Tom Kelly
Subtitle of the Swiss Films: Zou Xueping, Zhang Mengqi, Luo Bing, Tang Zhi
French proofreading: Yan Xiaoxiao
Lighting: Jia Nannan
Sound/Video: Wang Wenli
Project assistant: Wang Mingfang
Volunteers: Shu Qiao, Wang Haian
Thanks for: Zhang Ling, Marilyn Ong, Zhou Xuying, Weng Diedie, Zhuang Jiayun, Guo-Juin Hong, Yan Xiaoxiao, Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council
Memory, still
As I have said before, “memory” will always be with us. From the “Crossing Festival” last October, which took “memory” as its subject, to the “May Festival” this year, which followed on with the theme of “Keep Remembering”, until this year’s “Crossing Festival” entitled “Memory, still”; “memory”, it seems, sticks with us all the way. Our entanglement with “memory” will persist.
“Memory”, here, is not simply a suggestive term, nor a maverick concept, discarded after its one-time use, like worn-out shoes; it is not an overcoat or a cosmetic for the sake of appearance. First of all, it signifies an action, for instance, carrying a backpack and a video camera, going back to villages to approach and interview more than 300 old folks, about their memories of “the Great Famine” (1959-61), “Land Reform”, “the Great Leap Forward”, “The Cultural Revolution”, and so forth. Thus, a public archive of “folk memory” involving video works and blogs is gradually being established, and in the process, the participants of this “folk memory” project are creating their own documentaries and theatrical works. One point needs to be emphasized here: searching the collective memory is of primary importance; building a public audio-visual archive is the future goal. We started by attempting to do something for others and for the public, and then personal works gestated from this; it is a natural process of conception for art in the terrain of life. To be explicit, this is the clear direction of CCD Workstation in five years.
The “Crossing Festival” this year will mainly exhibit the works of the “Folk Memory Project”. In the theatre section, the new work My Name Is Memory created by the Living Dance Studio will be performed. To strengthen the work, choreographer Wen Hui and some young participants spent more than three months practicing in workshops, and brought out the themes of “return” and “memory” in their rehearsals. Another important work is the new version of Zhang Mengqi’s Self-Portrait: At 47 KM, which recounts the story of a dancer’s experiences during a trip to the village where his grandfather lives, interweaving reality and memory, the young and the elderly. Then there is Xiaowu, a young thespian from Taiwan, who did not have any direct connections with the “folk memory” project initially, but who stayed in Caochangdi Workstation for more than four months and created his theatrical debut, introducing his memories into reality. In the “image section”, the three documentaries including Luo Bing’s Ren Dingqi, Autobiography, Me and Luo Village, Zhang Mengqi’s Self-Portrait: At 47 KM, and Zou Xueping’s Satiated Village are the modified versions completed in the summer, after the screening of the first versions in May.
At the same time, we will also have the “old program” which we have been cooperating with the Swiss Films for three years, the screening of Swiss documentaries and the documentary workshop directed by the filmmakers. This year we will invite director Béatrice Bakhti, who will be the seventh Swiss documentary filmmaker invited to Caochangdi. She will bring a series of the documentary Romans d'ados, which is composed of four documentaries and was made over eight years, documenting the experiences of growing up of seven Swiss teenagers from the age of 12 to 18. Following a group of people for many years and recording their lives as a method of documentary-making is not only rare in China, but also abroad. The documentary workshop will certainly be a unique one with depth.
All right, that is all for this year’s “Crossing Festival”. We may not have as many programs as in previous years and it may not sound that lively, but we are experiencing a transition from building a stage and performing, to building a significant tunnel, so it is bound to be like this.
Text by: Wu Wenguang
Translated by: Zhang Ling
Proofread by: Tom Kelly
>>Schedule of Crossing Festival 2011<<
>>PERFORMANCE<<
>>DOCUMENTARY FORUM<< |