China Love Documentary

[Cara Canellas]

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.

This coming-of-age melancholia follows a group of subcultural youths stumbling through their grungy nightlife at Funky Town, Chengdu's techno epicenter that has since been demolished. While the film is about queer DJs and a drag queen, it feels universal past any sense of identity. And it's genuinely Chengdu, where its hedonism feels blas, its nihilism glamorous.

Weiting Liu: The Rooftop screening of The Last Year of Darkness was a beautiful viewing experience for me all around. What's the story between Rooftop Films and you as a filmmaker? How did this premiere come into place?

Ben Mullinkosson: When my producer Sol Ye and I were applying for grants, Rooftop was the first organization to believe in the film. I became the 2020 recipient of their Water Tower Feature Film Grant. Since then, getting funds from everybody else has become so much easier. Having their support has been great.

WL: The film is vibey, moody, and emo. It's also hot and hormonal. It takes you on a journey, and you just follow whomever you see on screen. During the filming process that spanned several years, did you ever think about what specific vibes you want the film to give out?

BM: The film is a love letter to the underground party scene of Chengdu, and a celebration of life that can only be lived through darkness. Young people go to places like Funky Town to run away from their problems, even if it's only for one night.

When we screened the film in Chengdu, everyone in attendance was having plum wine, Funky Town's signature drink. And every local was telling me how real the film is. I believe it will remind you of your own early 20s, when you're a little bit broke and a little bit lost, and are just looking for a good place to escape to.

WL: Funky Town looks so glam in your neon-tinted camera. I love how the film looks throughout. Absolutely beautiful cinematography: the well thought-out compositions; the scenery shots of Chengdu's cityscapes; the poetic closeups and tilt shots of the people in it. What makes you the proudest about the film's cinematography?

BM: Chengdu is just a beautiful city for location shooting. The beautiful cinematography also develops out of the mutual trust between the cameramen and my friends on camera. And I'm proudest of that! We filmed the cast with wide-angle lenses up close and personal. The main cinematographer is Gena Baranov, who had been friends with the cast since before the filming process. We had already partied together and seen him throw up and stuff. There's no distance between his lens and our friends on screen.

I'm aware that documentary filmmaking can become exploitative, if not handled with care and empathy. I'm cautious about what footage I put into the final cut. My priority is that nothing on screen makes my friends uncomfortable.The film is an authentic collaboration where all of us gave our 100 percent.

WL: Your cast's authenticity and willingness to be vulnerable with you are so palpable on screen. The scene that carries the most emotional weight for me is where the skater/musician nicknamed 647 sits against a wall outside Funky Town, and recounts the traumas he's dealt with from both his parents. Suddenly he catches lightning in a bottle, finding gratitude for these traumas that eventually make him who he is. He accepts and embraces himself in that moment, and I relate to that so much.

BM: I'm so glad you love that scene! I love it, too! Just like him, everybody else in the film has some sort of parental and familial traumas. This monologue scene of his brings out another layer of Funky Town, and explains why they go there and why they party.

WL: Intergenerational traumas are very common within Chinese families. It's only natural that your film captures how they impact your cast's identities and sexualities within a Chinese context. But the mental gymnastics we overcome to accept ourselves are universal. The film's not political. It's universal.

BM: I can't stop any audience from making political assumptions about me as an American filmmaker in China. But this is really just a film about my friends.

WL: It's about your friends partying with you in Chengdu, my hometown, of all places. Watching the film, I had major FOMO, "How come I'm not in Chengdu partying with these people? How come I've been doing all my partying in America? How come I've been here for the past 10 years already?" It made me go through an identity crisis for a minute.

WL: I relate. I can't thrive on an easy life. I need the challenges.

BM: Not everyone's like this. But yea, this lifestyle is for you and for me. On the other hand, I also love how chill Chengdu can be sometimes. It's refreshing that people here don't try that hard.

Weiting Liu is a Brooklyn-based film and culture writer from Chengdu, China. She writes about everything Asian with joy in her heart. She also writes about media representation of gender, race, and intersectionality. Find her writing here and find her on Instagram and Twitter.

CHINA LOVE, directed by Olivia Martin McGuire, is a fascinating 2018 documentary about cultural evolution, contemporary China, love, marriage and the billion-dollar pre-wedding photography industry.

If you are keen to exposure yourself to contemporary Chinese culture, this excellent documentary is absolutely worth the watch. CHINA LOVE is a fascinating look into pre-wedding photography, Chinese culture, family, marriage and most of all, true love.

CHINA LOVE is available for free online to watch as part of the Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival who have gone digital this year. The festival ends on the 17th of May, so get in quick and watch some incredible films here: -of-fresh-air.com.au

For more information specifically on the film, visit:

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Someone asked me recently whether I yearn to go back to my old filmmaking days and just go make another movie. I would love to, but probably wouldn't do it unless I was financially independent. It would still be a struggle, but at least a bit easier if you don't have to worry about surviving.

Others do it for the sheer love for the art, though. "This is Life" (烟火人间) is an oddity that accentuates this point. First, it is a documentary film, a genre that has almost no commercial potential in China. Second, all the footage that makes up the film is sourced from a short video platform Kuaishou (快手), a Chinese version of Tiktok, if you will, though it's actually not Douyin (抖音), the real Chinese Tiktok but its local competitor. In fact, as you can see from the header image above, the vertical video format has been adopted as-is to the widescreen.

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