The grandmothers, sexual slavery and the apology
They were born as humans, but were never allowed to live a normal human life
China
Death as dignity
In 2015, four siblings aged between five and 13 allegedly committed suicide in a village in China’s rural Guizhou province.
The van Goghs of China
Many China documentaries of the last decade have focused on the human cost of this nation becoming the world’s main manufacturer. Some portray the dramas behind long working hours and low wages on which people struggle to survive. Other films centre on China’s bizarre fascination for Western culture and their desire to emulate it.
They finally got him
DISSENT: Some of the gutsiest actions ever taken by an artist in a severely censored nation are done by Ai Wei Wei.
ROTTERDAM 2012: Observing China
As documents in pure direct cinema, Willemien Sanders looks at Chinese docs shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
FESTIVAL REVIEWS 2007: Hot Picks from Hot Docs
With 129 documentaries in 10 days, Toronto’s Hot Docs is North America’s well-established answer to IDFA. DOX’s reporter checked out two of the winners.
Facing an unknown future
The construction of the gigantic Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River in China has been widely criticized by international organisations.
THESSALONIKI 2005: Fresh Sea Breezes
Two very different films caught the author’s attention at Thessaloniki Doc fest in March. Despite their difference, they both demonstrated that it is what the films see and how they see it that matters.
Migrant workers in Shenzhen
This powerful documentary explores the cruel realities of sweatshop labor and workplace injury in China, and one lawyer’s mission to defend worker’s rights.