China. The Arts - The People A Film by Ulrike Ottinger |
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| Germany 1985 16 mm, color, 270 minutes, original version with subtitles Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduction, Berlin in Cooperation with SFB, Berlin and WDR, Köln Premiere: October 1985, International Documentary Film Festival, Nyon Festivals: Berlin Filmfestival, International Forum 1986 14th Festival International du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal 1985 Festival International de Creteil 1986 15th Festival lnternacional de Cinema, Figueira da Foz 1986 11th Hongkong Intern. Film Festival 1987, etc. Awards: Preis der Deutschen Filmkritik 1986 Prädikat: Besonders Wertvoll Distributed by Freunde der Deutschen Kinemathek e.V. |
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| A journey of thousand miles starts with a step. Lao-Tse |
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| In this four and a half hour documentary or filmic tavelogue, Ulrike
Ottinger tries to impart new ways of seeing a foreign culture. "In
my previous films I have dealt with the themes of exoticism, minorities
and their differing role behaviour within their own culture. Now I
am interested in expanding this theme, in getting to know a 'real
exoticism' in a foreign land and in a different culture. I am attempting
to conduct a visual discourse with my camera about exoticism as a
question of point-of-view. Ulrike Ottinger In making the film, I was influenced by Chinese nature painting: by the use of the scroll, which not only demands a different method of painting, but a different way of viewing - rolling out the scroll, focusing in on details, wandering to and fro, viewing piecemeal. So if I was filming a market square, for example, I'd pan very slowly and steadily across the square, rather than trying to capture the image in toto. Ulrike Ottinger Stations of the film: ACT 1Beijing, February 1985, at the time of the Spring Festival, the
ancient Chinese New Years' celebration In Sichuan Province, March 1985 In Yunnan Province, March 1985 |
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The position of the camera throughout the film, whether still or moving, insists in a separation between the filmmaker and the sights that catch her eye, that she wants to collect and bring home. The filmmaker is only integrated into the narrative as separate: we never see her image, but her presence as a foreigner is acknowledged by people's attitude toward the camera (seemingly curious, interested) and by the explanations that are given, at several points, of things we see. The film pays as much attention to things with an undisclosed meaning as it does to a universalizing aspect - human gestures and facial expressions that are understood "directly," as if no translation is necessary. In other words, the film underscores our cultural difference as observers, yet links us to something we share with these people. The China that Ottinger shows us is an example in which social signs are not oppressive, especially because we see artistic expression in all facets of daily life. This is the principle of selection used in the film, whence its title: China: The Arts, Everyday Life. This is the privilege of the visitor: to be able to see another culture selectively, in this instance, as a "real" example of unoppressed Difference. Janet Bergstrom, excerpt from "The Theater of Everyday Life", Camera Obscura No 18, Sept. 1988 |
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Distribution: Freunde der Deutschen Kinemathek e.V. Potsdamer Str. 2 D-10785 Berlin Germany Contact: Karl Winter fon +49-30-269 55 150 fax +49-30-269 55 111 |