filmmaking in china: Zhao Dayong

(Film director Zhao Dayong; Photo Credit: Shiho Fukada for The New York Times)

I'm lucky. I get to do really creative work at my design agency and with our Chinese cookbook. I really don't have time for a lot else. One project I hope I get to someday is filming a documentary about entrepreneurs in China. I've met some amazing business owners in China that are working under the communist government system and are still innovating and driving China's economic boom. I worked for a South African guy in Beijing who started a a successful advertising agency. I met a girl in her early 20's who navigated the miles of red tape and started her own bar in Beijing. I visited a tofu factory in Sichuan province that has been a family business for four generations. I think it's fascinating to see how the worlds of communism and capitalism are colliding and how these entrepreneurs are making their own rules.

However, filming in China is a big problem. The government has tight controls on what can be filmed and they only like documentaries that show them in a positive light. Several years ago I was questioned at an airport about why my camera was so big and what I was planning on photographing. I can only image what they would say if I had a huge HD film camera and light kit with me. I just read an interesting article in the New York Times (read it here) about the Chinese film director Zhao Dayong and his new film Ghost Town. It's a documentary about the residents of Zhiziluo, a small village in the inhospitable mountains near the Myanmar border. Zhao Dayong knew that he would never get the permits to film his movie so he took a risk and shot the whole thing illegally. The film has gotten a lot of press and was the only Chinese film to be included in the recent New York Film Festival. The trailer for the film is below. 

There's the no official rules on filmmaking and art in general in China so the only way to find out where the line is drawn is to test the limits and see what happens. There can be serious repercussions for people who piss off the government. Has anyone filmed in a foreign country before? I'd love to hear what the hoops are like and how difficult it is.

-Nate

Comments

[Sarah]

I hope you get to do the documentary. There are a lot of stories over there.

[Sylvia Irwin]

Thanks for including the article link.

[Kavin]

Just checking out your site for the first time. I had no idea you guys had all this going on. Very cool. Good luck with your book!