Melbourne Film Festival Pics and Coverage of China Docos Program

Dan Edwards and Ou Ning at the Melbourne International Film Festival last month (Image: Luisa Mirabilio, www.thinkloco.com.au)

As I reported extensively here at Screening China back in August, the Melbourne International Film Festival hosted a small retrospective of Chinese documentaries this year curated by myself, entitled Street Level Visions. The program attracted considerable interest, and dGenerate Films have now published a full summary of media coverage of the program, which included stories on television and radio, and in newspaper and magazines.

I’ve also got some pictures here of filmmakers Ou Ning (Meishi Street) and Wang Jiulaing (Beijing Besieged by Waste), who were in Melbourne as guests of the festival. The images are from a panel that took place in the festival bar on 14 August.

All image by Luisa Mirabilio (www.thinkloco.com.au).

Chinese Documentary Makers on Australian TV & Radio

Ou Ning, director of Meishi Street and a guest of this year's Melbourne International Film Festival. Ou appeared as part of the festival's "Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos" program.

 The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) wound up on Sunday (19 August), and with it the Street Level Visions program of independent Chinese documentaries curated by myself. The Chinese program was a great success, with many sessions sold out and a lot of audience and media interest (see the previous couple of posts).

Here’s a final round up of the media coverage of the Street Level Visions program:

Chinese Documentary Directors in Melbourne

Directors Ou Ning (left) and Wang Jiuliang (right) with Street Level Visions curator Dan Edwards, at the ABC building in Melbourne, Australia.

Street Level Visions, the program of independent documentaries from China curated by myself, has been generating considerable interest in Melbourne over the past week, especially with the arrival of guest filmmakers Wang Jiuliang (Beijing Besieged by Waste) and Ou Ning (Meishi Street) last Friday.

Interview with Hu Jie, Director of "Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul"

Documentary maker Hu Jie.

The Melbourne International Film Festival is in full swing, including the program curated by myself, “Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos.” Tomorrow (Monday 6 August) at 11am, Hu Jie’s landmark work Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul will screen at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image on Federation Square as part of the program. A repeat screening will take place on Friday, August 17 at 6.30pm in the same venue.

To celebrate the screening of Hu Jie’s work, and the other titles in the "Street Level Visions" program, Art Space China has run the full text of an interview I conducted with Hu Jie in 2010.

Street Level Visions coverage in today’s Age newspaper

Zhao Liang's Crime and Punishment, one of seven titles screening at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival as part of the program "Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos."

The Melbourne International Film Festival kicked off last night to great fanfare. I’m very proud to be part of this year’s event, which includes the program “Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos," curated by myself. The Age newspaper today has an article by me about the program that you can see here.

There is also a short video interview with me on The Age website.

One of the films in Street Level Visions – The Transition Period – has already sold out, and several others are selling fast. So if you’re in Melbourne and keen to check out these films, jump online and book.

See you at the festival!

Chinese Doco Special in "Senses of Cinema"

Wang Jiuliang's Beijing Besieged by Waste, one of seven independent Chinese documentaries appearing in the "Street Level Visions" program at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival.

As announced in my last post, a program of Chinese documentaries programmed by myself kicks off on 5 August as part of the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival. "Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos" is a retrospective of seven digital documentaries made over the decade or so, featuring work by Zhao Liang, Hu Jie, Ou Ning, Wang Jiuliang and Zhou Hao.

To coincide with Street Level Visions, the well known Australian film journal Senses of Cinema have run a series of articles in their new issue edited by myself and Adrian Danks focusing on independent Chinese documentaries.

Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos at the Melbourne International Film Festival

Zhao Liang's Petition, one of seven titles screening at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival as part of "Street Level Visions: Chinese Independent Docos," curated by Dan Edwards.

I’m very happy to announce that “Street Level Visions,” a program of independent Chinese documentaries curated by myself, will be screening next month as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

The program is a small retrospective of independent works produced in China over the past decade or so, many of which I’ve written about here at Screening China. As well as classics such as Zhao Liang’s Petition (2009) and Hu Jie’s Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul, the selection includes Wang Jiuliang’s debut from last year, Beijing Besieged by Waste.

Directors Ou Ning and Wang Jiuliang will be in Melbourne as guests of the festival.

Here’s the full program – all screenings at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) on Federation Square unless otherwise indicated: