China Love Film
Roman Bayramdurdiyev
"China is at the junction of the past and the future, but the past and the future are rubbing and colliding with each other at a high speed, so that China is now in a very fluid state, like a place close to a dream."
Olivia is deeply fascinated by the Chinese people's behavior of constructing dreams in a flourishing environment. She believes that China has only emerged from a painful history in a very short period of time and at a very fast speed. The conflicts between contemporary youth and the older generation burst out through exquisite wedding photos; and the interesting act of taking wedding photos has become a unique platform for every Chinese to build new dreams and create memories.
China Love, a documentary released last year by Australian filmmaker Olivia Martin-McGuire, takes a close look at China's pre-wedding photo industry. We meet couples young and old who celebrate love while also being honest about their anxieties. What if, the second the shutter snaps, is the best moment of their life?
In 21st century China, it's custom for bethrothed couples to spend small fortunes on glamorous portraits, taken months in advance of their wedding. China Love invited viewers on a tour of this weird and wonderful world.
Olivia Martin-McGuire, director of the China Love documentary, believes Chinese people are now displaying their wealth because it hadn't been possible in the past, particularly for people who lived through the decade-long Cultural Revolution.
Host Cyrus Webb welcomes photographer, director and producer Olivia Martin-McGuire to #ConversationsLIVE to discuss what led her to want to tell the story that is i the film CHINA LOVE and what it's been like to see the response.
On initial blush, it sounds like quite a narrow focus; however, Olivia Martin-McGuire's documentary goes wide, encompassing the changes that have swept through China over the past few decades, and how that's affected its citizens.
China Love is her first feature length documentary and the film is currently in competition at the Sydney Film Festival. The director is supported by a crew of considerable female power, including editor Bernadette Murray and producers Rebecca Barry and Madeleine Hetherton, founders of Media Stockade and directors of award winning documentaries in their own right.
SYDNEY, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A new documentary showcasing Chinas profound love of wedding photography will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival on Wednesday evening, with audiences buzzing about the behind-the-scenes look into the multi-billion dollar industry.
I was working as a photojournalist and I arrived early for a job for The Australian Financial Review (AFR). I was actually shooting the director of Red Obsession in Shanghai at The Roosevelt Hotel on the Bund. I was taken aback by handfuls of bridal couples being photographed against the sandstone walls, and then picking up their dresses to reveal white sneakers and running to another wall to set up another photo.
I chose Disney's 1998 animated action film, Mulan. Although I considered a few other films I recently watched, over quarantine I re-watched Mulan and my nostalgia for the music came back and I had a stronger idea for a lesson. While this movie definitely has Disney's romanticized vision of China, it is based on a popular Chinese folktale of a peasant girl who disguises herself as a man to take the place of her aging father in the emperor's army. I had hoped to see the new live-action film this spring to see if there were any changes. This film is directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook and is a feature film-90 minutes long. Due to the time, I may only show certain scenes that are more important, although it is a shorter full-length film. It has a beautiful soundtrack with songs sung by Marni Nixon, Stevie Wonder, Donny Osmond, Lea Solanga, Jerry Goldsmith and even 98 Degrees and Christina Aguilera. When I do writing time in class, I sometimes play the score because it is beautiful and calming. I find it helps focus and calm my students.
The story of Hua Mulan has been around since the 5th century. From what I teach about folktales and what we learned in the readinga for this course, this means there are many versions of this well-known story. Some differences are that there was no Mushu the dragon helping her and in the story, she was supposedly undercover for years and did not fall in love with her Captain, Li Shang, although some versions do say she had a love for another soldier.
The movie takes place during the Han Dynasty in ancient China, during a patriarchal regime. Because of this, when the Great Wall can't keep out the Hun army, the emperor orders one man from every family to serve in his Imperial army. Mulan is worried about her father because he is older and sickly, so she decides to sneak out and take his place pretending to be his son because women weren't allowed to serve. Throughout the film we see an awkward and timid girl become a strong and confident warrior. I like this message for my young students, because in middle school years it can be hard to feel like you belong and to find your courage. Like most Disney films, she does fall in love with another soldier, her Captain. However, he believes she is a man. She acts selflessly to help stop the Huns and her Captain sees the courageous and caring person she is on the inside. In the end, she is honored by the emperor and finally brings honor to her family, which is what she wanted to do achieve all along.
I do about a 2-week long lesson on folktales finding origins of popular ones and seeing how they are similar from culture to culture yet might have different names or characters. We look for themes, lessons, and meanings. I have my students write their own story (in groups) based on the theme of a chosen folktale. They perform it as a play to the class. I would love to dive further into the Mulan folktale and show my students how this film version is the Western interpretation of the folktale passed down for centuries. It would be great alignment with their History standards because they study ancient China. I would coordinate with the History teacher to do this folktale during that unit.
This is a great film to use because it has a lot of great conversation starters. You can have the students compare differences between the film and the written story and the real history of China. This would also work really well with a gender discussion. Which attributes are considered feminine and which ones masculine? How does this align with actual cultural values and gender representations in China? Which representations are likely more US influenced? I also would love for students to study the Chinese reactions to the first film when it came out. What did people like about it/not like about it? Did the Chinese government react to it officially? If so, how?
Excellent! You picked my favorite Disney movie. I love this animated film because it shows the ancient part of the history of China that not many students know. It is a very engaging movie and easy to follow and get the student's attention. I also love the fact that embraces women's point of view and her bravery is just amazing and admirable. Disney's Mulan is also a perfect wat to start a conversation about the gender roles and steretypes play in Asian societies, especially in China and Japan which can be very different, in my opinion.
1. Folktales and Cultural History: As you mentioned, Mulan is based on a centuries-old folktale. You can use it to explore the historical context of the Han Dynasty and compare it to other versions of the Mulan story from different times and cultures. Students can research various adaptations of the Mulan legend, create timelines, and present their findings through posters or presentations.
2. Gender Roles and Cultural Norms: Mulan provides a great starting point for discussions on gender roles in historical and modern contexts. You could have students explore how the film portrays masculinity and femininity compared to traditional Chinese values and contemporary Western perspectives. A discussion or debate activity could focus on how gender roles are represented and whether they are accurate or influenced by Western ideals.
Love O2O is a 2016 Chinese romance film directed by Zhao Tianyu and starring Angelababy and Jing Boran. It is based on the novel of the same name by Gu Man.[3] It was released in China on 12 August 2016.[1]
Xiao Nai is a gaming expert, who is also the most popular student on campus. One day, he comes across the campus goddess Bei Wei Wei and it was love at first sight. However, it was not Wei Wei's looks that he noticed, but her skill mastery of the online role-playing game that they both play. Now, Xiao Nai must use his skills both in real life and online to capture Wei Wei's heart. But does their love have the experience points to succeed, or will this relationship never Level Up to the next stage?
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2000,[7] to critical acclaim and a nomination for the Palme d'Or; Leung won Best Actor (the first Hong Kong actor to win the award). It is often listed as one of the greatest films of all time and one of the major works of Asian cinema. In a 2016 survey by the BBC, it was voted the second greatest film of the 21st century by 177 film critics from around the world, saying "never before has a film spoken so fluently in the universal language of loss and desire". In 2022, the film placed 5th in Sight & Sound's "Greatest Films of All Time" critics' poll, rising from its previous position of 24th in 2012. It is the highest-ranked film since 1975.[8][9]
In 1962 British Hong Kong, Shanghainese expatriates Chow Mo-wan, a journalist, and Su Li-zhen (Mrs. Chan), a secretary at a shipping company, rent rooms in adjacent apartments. Each has a spouse who works and often leaves them alone on overtime shifts. Due to the friendly but overbearing presence of Su's Shanghainese landlady, Mrs. Suen, and their bustling, mahjong-playing neighbours, Chow and Su are often alone in their rooms and rarely dine with the other tenants. Although they initially are friendly to each other only as need be, they grow closer as they realize that their spouses are having an affair with each other, and subsequently try to reenact how the affair might have begun.
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