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Seoul Train

Seoul Train


SEOUL TRAIN

Directors: Lisa Sleeth & Jim Butterworth

With its riveting footage of a secretive "underground railroad," SEOUL TRAIN is the gripping documentary expose into the life and death of North Koreans as they try to escape their homeland and China.

SEOUL TRAIN also delves into the complex geopolitics behind this growing and potentially explosive humanitarian crisis. By combining verite footage, personal stories and interviews with experts and government officials, SEOUL TRAIN depicts the flouting of international laws by major countries, the inaction and bureaucracy of the United Nations, and the heroics of activists that put themselves in harm's way to save the refugees.

Reviews
  • "Drive, walk, run - but however you do it, be sure to see 'Seoul Train,' a wrenching documentary." - Denver Post

  • "So compelling that you can't stop watching, even though you know it will haunt your dreams." - The Wall Street Journal

  • "A brilliant documentary" - New York Times

    Award
  • WINNER - BEST FILM, 6 December 2005 - ONE WORLD - Pristina (Pristina, Kosovo)
  • WINNER - AUDIENCE AWARD, BEST FILM, 26-30 August 2005 - Libertas - Dubrovnik Film Festival (Dubrovnik. Croatia)
  • WINNER - BEST DOCUMENTARY, 26-30 August 2005 - Libertas - Dubrovnik Film Festival (Dubrovnik. Croatia)
  • WINNER - AUDIENCE AWARD, BEST FILM, 10-14 August 2005 - Crested Butte Reel Fest (Crested Butte, CO)
  • WINNER - SILVER AWARD, BEST DOCUMENTARY, 10-14 August 2005 - Crested Butte Reel Fest (Crested Butte, CO)
  • WINNER - BEST EDITING, 8 July 2005 - Best of Milan International Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA)
  • WINNER - INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD, 12 June 2005 - Brooklyn International Film Festival
  • WINNER - BEST GLOBAL INSIGHT FILM, 10 June 2005 - Jackson Hole Film Festival (Jackson Hole, WY)
  • WINNER - BEST HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY, 23 April 2005 - Artivist Film Festival (Los Angeles)
  • WINNER - AUDIENCE AWARD, BEST DOCUMENTARY, 28 March - 2 April 2005 - Texas Film Festival
  • WINNER - BEST EDITING, 11-19 March 2005 - Milan International Film Festival (Milan, Italy)
  • WINNER - BEST DOCUMENTARY, 18 Feb 2005 - Boulder International Film Festival
  • WINNER - BEST DOCUMENTARY, 12 & 16 Nov 2004 - Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Film Festival

    Item no.: CJ28340001
    Format: DVD (English, Korean, Mandarin, With Discussion, facilitator's guide, English, Simplified Chinese, French Subtitles)
    Duration: Approx. 54 minutes
    Copyright:
    Price: USD 275.00

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    SHANGHAI TALES: EPISODE 1 - THE WAR OF GROWING UP

    Directed by Guo Jing and Ke Dingding

    This series on contemporary China is filmed from an insiders point of view. It portrays the daily lives of ordinary people living in one of its busiest and most iconic cities. The three episodes provide a window into China today, an opportunity to assess the similarities and learn from the differences between our cultures.

    It is the first day of school in Grade 4 of the Shanghai Experimental Primary School. The film follows the chlldren through the whole semester as they learn, misbehave, flirt, play and take exams. Their teachers observe their behavior and progress and share insights with each other.

    The focus is on three children, including Gu, a smart boy but a show off, who is often in trouble for fighting and is teased by his classmates for crying when he is ignored.

    One of the remarkable features of this film is the naturalness of the pupils who seem oblivious to being filmed. The documentary allows the viewer to see the educational system in China at work. When some children do poorly on a math test the whole class loses points. But much attention is paid to each individual child and the teachers strive to maintain discipline and academic success. In this spontaneous film we see the formation of new generation of Chinese children.

    Item no.: WY00870180
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 60 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 295.00

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    SHANGHAI TALES: EPISODE 2 - ALL ABOUT MY FRIENDS

    Directed by Guo Jing and Ke Dingding

    This series on contemporary China is filmed from an insiders point of view. It portrays the daily lives of ordinary people living in one of its busiest and most iconic cities The three episodes provide a window into China today, an opportunity to assess the similarities and learn from the differences between our cultures.

    What is it like to be an entrepreneur in today's China? This engrossing film provides an up-close view of the daily life of a tour operator in Shanghai determined to become wealthy. We meet a man who works non-stop with only a few hours of sleep. He has no other interest except seeing his tour business make a profit and he oversees every detail. His young girl friend does not have a job but leads a luxurious life on his earnings, while he postpones thoughts of marriage until he has amassed a substantial nest- egg.

    We meet his parents who are also driven to be successful. They work hard running a restaurant, even though they are no longer young. His mother complains that her son is so busy working that he does not have time for her. This film will interest not only students of Asian studies but also students of business who will gain an insight into the new breed of Chinese entrepreneur.

    Item no.: WG07000184
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 60 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 295.00

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    SHANGHAI TALES: EPISODE 3 - WHEN MY CHILD IS BORN

    Directed by Guo Jing and Ke Dingding

    This series on contemporary China is filmed from an insiders point of view. It portrays the daily lives of ordinary people living in one of its busiest and most iconic cities The three episodes provide a window into China today, an opportunity to assess the similarities and learn from the differences between our cultures.

    This remarkable film profiles a couple who want to have personal freedom but are faced with the constraints of parenthood. In Chinese society the grandmothers are expected to care for the babies, but does that include substituting for an absentee mother who is in another continent?

    When Jun finds herself pregnant. Jun and Long agree to marry to avoid any stigma in a traditional Chinese society. Jun is an English translator with a specialty in Virginia Woolf novels. She identifies with Woolf's quest for independence. Long is a PhD candidate who is bored with reading about Karl Marx yet tries to satisfy the university authorities about his approach to the subject.

    As the film develops, we witness disagreements between Jun and her mother in raising the baby, as new theories pit against traditional ones. Jun seem not to like her mother, which makes the situation even more tense. But the larger issue centers about Jun's plans for her career. She will go to Australia where she can take courses to qualify for her doctorate, leaving both husband and baby behind. The film shows an American audience how feminism manifests itself in one Chinese family.

    Item no.: TG07060185
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 70 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CHINA'S EARTHQUAKE: THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURES

    On May 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm a massive earthquake struck China's Sichuan province, leaving 80,000 dead or missing and millions homeless. In the disaster's wake, China's government seemed to present a new face to the world by permitting increased media coverage, accepting international aid and expressing sympathy for the quake's victims. Was this the beginning of a new openness in China? And what is the future for the people of Sichuan? The documentary looks at these questions through the stories of four survivors.

    The Sichuan TV reporter Zhang Qian was in the middle of the disaster zone. For the first time, she and other reporters filed uncensored live reports. China watched transfixed as she talked to Chen Jian, a 26-year-old trucker who had been pinned down by massive concrete slabs for three days. Lin Hao, a 9-year-old, became China's hero for rescuing two classmates near the quake's epicenter. After the Olympics Lin Hao and his family moved to Shanghai so he could get a better education. Another survivor, Sang Jun, mourned for his eleven-year-old son who perished when Fuxin #2 School collapsed, one of 12,000 poorly-built schools that crumbled in the quake. Distraught parents in Fuxin demonstrated for an investigation as most other buildings around had remained standing. At first the government promised to investigate but as the weeks passed, the post-quake openness disappeared. Chinese media was told to stop covering the story.

    Item no.: NH00870161
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 42 minutes
    Copyright: 2010
    Price: USD 295.00

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    10 CONDITIONS OF LOVE, THE: DEFYING CHINESE DOMINATION OF HER HOMELAND

    By Jeff Daniels

    Meet Ms Rebiya Kadeer, a human rights activist twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the impassioned though graying exiled leader of the Uyghurs, a Muslim people whose ancestral home, East Turkestan, was annexed by the Chinese in 1949 and re-named Xinxiang province . Since then the Chinese have dominated politically, culturally and economically, much as they have done in Tibet.

    Ms Kadeer was fiercely nationalistic since her youth. Married off at an early age and bearing six children in close succession, she was divorced by her husband for her activism. Penniless, she rose through her wits and industry to become one of the wealthiest people in China, after Deng ushered in an era of capitalism. Remaining politically active, she paid the price. Several of her sons languish in Chinese prisons while she and her second husband, in exile, keep alive the protest movement from abroad.

    Using archival footage, the film traces the violent conflict between Chinese and Uyghurs. She is the tireless head of the Uyghur American Association, based in Washington, D.C. , where she lobbies Congress to press for human rights in China.

    Item no.: WJ07060154
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 56 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 195.00

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    CINEMA KOREA: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF KOREAN FILMS

    By Christine Choy

    The Korean film industry, which once struggled to attract domestic audiences, has been successfully exporting its movies and expanding its influence throughout Asia, Europe and North America in the past decade. Korean cinema is enjoying a revival of interest internationally because of the broader cultural phenomenon of hallyu ("Korean Wave"). But contemporary Korean cinema's roots run deep and hallyu is only the latest chapter in a rich history.

    Cinema Korea, the unique new documentary by Academy Award-nominated director Christine Choy (Who Killed Vincent Chin?), brings together interviews with directors and actors, archival footage of classic Korean films and accounts of defining historical events to give a fully rounded view of Korean film culture. Participants include the renowned director Kwak Kyung-taek who has made 97 films spanning 40 years in all film genres and won the Best Director Award at Cannes for Chihwaseon in 2002. Kyung Hyun Kim, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, says of Kwon-taek: "He is Korea's Spielberg -- but more versatile, radical, and profound than Spielberg ever dreamed of being." The film is an important addition to Cinema Studies and Asian Studies collections.

    Item no.: HG07000182
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price:

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    BEAUTY IN CHINA

    By Elodie Pakosz

    These days, ambitious young women in China feel they have to Westernize their appearance through plastic surgery in order to get ahead. They undergo lengthy, painful, and expensive surgery and hospitalization, often financed by their parents who can ill afford it.

    To accomplish the "right look," they visit surgeons to have their legs lengthened, their eyes westernized and their breasts enlarged. Some of the women end up with terrible physical problems as a result. It is a startling fact that every week some 16,000 Chinese undergo face surgery. The film includes a beauty contest for "Miss Nip & Tuck," in which all the contestants are women who have had plastic surgery. Many of their families have spent their life savings to pay for this investment in their daughters. The winner's family paid over $3,000 (which represented 2 years' salary) for her various plastic surgeries. The surgeons are happy to accomodate this business when one operation to lengthen legs costs $10,500. When one compares the attitude in China towards women during the Cultural Revolution when they were discouraged from dressing in anything but Mao jackets, the phenomenon is a startling illustration of China's rapid push into modernity.

    Item no.: KY00871167
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    BEHIND FORGOTTEN EYES

    Directed by Anthony Gilmore; Narrated by Yunjin Kim

    While Korea groaned under the harsh colonial rule of Imperial Japan from 1932 until 1945, the Japanese military coerced, tricked, and forced more than 200,000 women of Korea into a brutal and systematic form of sexual slavery on an unimaginable scale. Forbidden to leave the rickety shacks hastily constructed near the front lines of Imperial Japan's aggressive wars, often with a blanket as the room's only "furniture", they were forced to have sex with some 30-40 men every day. Behind Forgotten Eyes presents the stories of a few brave Korean women who have come forward and broken the silence exposing a past that some may want to stay buried.

    To this day, the Japanese government has yet to formally apologize or pay compensation to these women. Along with the first-hand accounts from Korean women, we hear from Japanese soldiers who used and abused them. With the expert testimony of academics, social activists, and professionals from Japan, Korea, and the United States the film offer a candid look into an issue that has been ignored for far too long. Time is running out for these women and their stories.

    Notes
  • Amnesty International Film Festival. 2008
  • San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, 2008
  • Tiburon Film Festival, 2008

    Award
  • Best Film, Conflict and Resolution Competition, 2008

    Item no.: TP07061169
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 78 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 350.00

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    CHINA UPSIDE DOWN

    Directed by Freddy Coppens

    In 1992, Deng Xiaoping's infamous slogan "it is glorious to get rich" unleashed one of the biggest revolutions in the thousand year-old country of China. Deng threw the "classless society" and the" equal division of the means of production" to the wind. As the narrator says, "You can smell money everywhere." Foreigners are no longer suspect.

    Since 1992 China's "socialism" has adapted to the entrepreneurial spirit. Success stories abound, but in the Chinese cultural tradition, it is often the family, rather than the individual, which achieves success.

    This film profiles several families who rose from subsistence incomes to fabled luxury through the inventiveness and ambition of the extended family. In 1992, the Li family founded a stone-carving business with a small amount of capital. Three sons and two sons-in-law are involved in the enterprise. After four years one of the sons invented an energy saving bulb; they now employ 1400 people. The families live in close proximity to one another in the city, and have built adjoining homes in a luxury vacation community.

    Through the stories of several families portrayed in this film, a Westerner gains insight into the unique fusion of capitalism and communism that is becoming present day China.

    Note
  • Association of Asian Studies, 2009

    Item no.: NN00871176
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    INSIDE THE CAMPUS: LIFE AT A CHINESE UNIVERSITY

    Camille Ponsin, director

    American college students, who enjoy all the freedoms and possibilities provided by university life, may well wonder how students in China fare. This is a frank account of what it is like to be a college student in China, filmed by a French director who was allowed to shoot for one year at Nanjing Normal University, a large university of 40,000 students.

    On the surface, life is quite different there. Soon after a student settles in, a uniformed Communist party member enters the dorm and instructs to the smallest detail just how one's personal objects are to be placed, from how shoes are to lined up, to where toothbrushes are stored. The first few months are given over to marching in formation, indoctrination into party history and learning to chant military slogans. We see a party secretary lecture a class on the superiority of Chinese students who have "a soul" "a beautiful spirit" and a "political conscience" which he says Westerners lack.

    The students strive to conform--we even hear of a suicide attempts when one girl gets a low grade in an exam on Communist Party politics. But behind the closed doors of their dorms, these 20 -year- olds talk about boyfriends, cinema, politics and their futures just like their Western counterparts. We follow two students, Miao who is attracted to a Western lifestyle and Kun, who is following the Party line in the hopes of a good career.

    Item no.: JT07001204
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    LOVE AND SEX IN CHINA

    Directed by Annemarie Gallone

    As China changes at an awesome rate, becoming more industrialized, urban and westernized, this film explores how this has impacted traditional relationships between men and women. Our guide is a young journalist, Yang Li Ne, whose parents have just divorced and whose own marriage is unraveling.

    She speaks about love and sex with young Bejingers, as well as older couples from the villages. Many of the young are afraid of commitment and are cynical about love and marriage. Money, not love, they say, is the basis for marriage. Prostitution is rampant; an estimated 6% of the national revenue comes from prostitution. Older couples reflect on the vanishing traditions that have given their marriages stability.

    A young gay man who was hesitant to be identified describes the homophobia in Chinese society and the secrecy with which gay and lesbians must lead their lives. He talks about the difference between making love and having sex.

    Examples of China's traditional erotic art, which was nurtured by the imperial court, are laced through the film. This documentary would be rated R.

    Item no.: WA07001216
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 350.00

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    NORTH KOREA: PORTRAIT OF A RED DICTATOR

    This exclusive portrait is the first to portray North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, with interviews of North and South Korean politicians, as well as close relatives and former employees who have fled the regime. The government is secretive and little is known about Jong-il. He managed to retain power after his father Kim Il- Sung's death in 1994. By 1997, North Korea had become one of the most isolated countries in the world, with an economy in shambles and frequent famines, causing the death of millions of his compatriots. Jong-il's regime has made North Korea a nuclear rogue state threatening the security of the world.

    Having grown up among the military and political operatives of his father's government, Jong-il was appointed his father's propaganda chief. By writing and directing films, ballets and operas glorifying his father and himself, he created a remarkable personality cult around his father. This he extended to encompass himself, thereby legitimizing the father-son political succession. He has a reputation as a vain and capricious playboy, having been married five times and has had many mistresses, some chosen from the "Pleasure Brigade" of young women used by his cronies and himself. He lives in great opulence, feasting on rare foods and drinking heavily.

    Kim Dae Jung, the former President of South Korea and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize recalls his visit to Kim Jong-il in 2001 when Jong- il told him he wished to improve relations with the U.S. His message was passed on to President G.W. Bush. Despite this, Bush demonized Jong-il, declaring North Korea to be part of an "axis of evil" in 2002. As a result, U.S. - North Korean relations have worsened considerably over the past six years.

    Item no.: BS07061229
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    POLLUTION IN CHINA: THE PEOPLE PROTEST

    By Televisio de Catalunya

    Since the economic reforms of the 1980s, runaway economic growth has turned China into a major creator of pollution. While the Chinese government ineffectually tries to grapple with its growing environmental problems, rising discontent among the masses augurs political changes. The film shows the city of Chongqing on the Yangzte River, to be one of the most industrialized and polluted areas in China. Drinking water for the local population is precarious at best. Some 360 million Chinese find themselves in similar circumstances. One entrepreneur lost 450 tons of fish -- and his business -- as the result of illegal dumping. Six years of legal action against the polluting industry have come to nothing. He complains that during the case, the corrupt authorities made his life hell. Hu Jia, a dissident currently under house arrest, says "Environmental officials are either bribed or have shares in the factories."

    In Linfen, one of the world's most polluted cities, we see how China's growing dependence on coal to fuel its industries takes its toll. Cities like Linfen are becoming the biggest source of greenhouse gases. Residents in the area are disgusted and demand solutions but the local authorities do nothing. The Ministry of the Environment has neither the will nor the resources to tackle the polluters. Grassroots campaigners are demanding a real voice in how decisions are taken. For those seeking political changes in the world's biggest dictatorship, these protests represent a small ray of light and hope.

    Review
  • "This video is highly recommended...provides a good starting point from which to observe and discuss the evolution of China's society and industry over the coming decades as China confronts the challenge of its environment."- EMRO

    Item no.: PB07000282
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 30 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price:

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    VISIONING TIBET

    By Isaac Solotaroff

    Visioning Tibet chronicles the passion of ophthalmologist Marc Lieberman, founder of the Tibet Vision Project. His mission: to end preventable blindness in Tibet -- which has the highest rate of untreated cataract blindness in the world -- by 2020. Bringing light where there was once darkness, Lieberman's work in educating Tibetan doctors to perform cataract surgery has been carried out despite the many obstacles thrown up by the Chinese bureaucracy.

    The film tells the stories of two Tibetans with failing vision -- Karma and Lhasang -- who have one last chance at restored sight. Karma, 52, is a farmer from a small northern village who works the land that his family has worked for generations. For two years, he has been gradually losing his eyesight, preventing him from farming. Lhasang, 56, is patriarch of a nomadic family. Like his ancestors, he herds yak and goats on the plains of northern and central Tibet. His blindness has made him unable to provide for his family, darkening both his mood and outlook on life.

    The film follows the two men as they make the arduous journey to a remote clinic in the hopes of having their sight restored by the Tibetan doctors who have been trained by Dr. Lieberman and his colleagues. This inspiring film shows how one man's commitment can make a profound difference in the lives of people in a distant corner of the world.

    Review
  • "Vividly documents a miraculous project in Tibet..a tremendously worthwhile film." - His Holiness The Dalai Lama

    Notes
  • United Nations Documentary Film Festival, 2006
  • One World Int'l Human Rights Film Festival, 2006
  • Vermont Int'l Film Festival, 2005
  • Taos Mountain Film Festival, 2005
  • Tahoe Film Festival, 2005
  • Woods Hole Film Festival, 2005

    Award
  • Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, Newport Beach Film Festival, 2006

    Item no.: TR07001258
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 56 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 195.00

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    30 SECONDS OF GOLD: ADVERTISING ON CHINESE TV

    Once a year, about one hundred companies seeking dominant positions in China's booming economy, compete in an auction for television advertising time. They face off on CCTV, China's most watched (and only national) network, serving the 400 million television owners in China. The companies know they cannot afford to miss out on the make- or-break advertising slots. This film reveals China's hectic embrace of market economics presenting a close look at the TV ad auction and the companies bidding .

    The Longliqi cosmetics and toiletries company, the largest of its kind in China, employs 30,000 people and projects annual sales of US $19 billion by 2019. Understanding the importance of national TV advertising, Longliqi recently spent US $47.6 million for prime time ads on CCTV and cut its retail prices 30-50% in order to beat back competition from both Chinese and foreign companies like Proctor & Gamble.

    Likewise, the largest motor oil company in China bought a commercial spot on CCTV in 2004 and produced an ad showing several expensive foreign cars using the company's oil. This appeared to give the oil upper class cachet, resulting in local wholesale merchants throughout China ordering huge amounts of the oil. As for CCTV, because of its tremendous ad revenues, the state-owned network has been self- sufficient since 1992.

    Item no.: YH07061021
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 350.00

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    731: TWO VERSIONS OF HELL

    By James T. Hong

    This is a multi-award winning documentary about Unit 731, Japan's secret World War II biological and chemical weapons facility in the Chinese town of Harbin where biological weapons were developed during the Japanese Occupation. The film uses the same footage as seen from two points of view. The first half gives the perspective of the Chinese government and describes the horrors and atrocities that occurred during World War II at the facility. The second half, using almost the exact same footage, describes Unit 731 from the Japanese revisionist perspective which is largely supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Although its cruel experiments on living people produced thousands of casualties, this activity is still denied by a number of Japanese historians and politicians.

    Generational change has contributed to the escalating history problem between Japan, China, and the two Koreas. Not only were the majority of Asians born and educated after the war, as a result of the education they received in their own countries, their memories and ideas of the war have become more divergent. Usage of the same shots in both parts of the film ironically demonstrates the potential to misuse film images for political purposes.

    Notes
  • International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2008.
  • The Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2007.
  • Tel Aviv International Documentary Festival, 2007.

    Award
  • Best World Documentary Award, International Documentary Film Festival, Jihlava, Czech Republic, 2007

    Item no.: HS07060411
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    AMCHIS: THE FORGOTTEN HEALERS OF THE HIMALAYAS

    Zanskar is a valley tucked between the steep mountains on the border of the Himalayas, at an altitude of 3,700 meters. In each village in this remote area of the world, there is a traditional Tibetan medicine man named the "Amchi." Since the beginning of time, the Amchi has passed his knowledge down from father to son, or from teacher to student.

    With the construction of a new road, however, the valley was left vulnerable to the outside world. Since then, the younger generation has rejected the age-old wisdom and practices of the Amchi, embracing more modern, lucrative activities instead. As a result, these forgotten healers of the Himalayas are perhaps the last to practice Tibetan medicine.

    Reviews
  • "Recommended for Anthropology, Asian Studies, Sociology, Health Sciences" Sandra Collins, Duquesne University Library Eductional Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: KK07060299
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 315.00

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    BIRD FLU WARS

    By David Carr-Brown and Anne Loussouarn

    The international scientific community has been monitoring the bird flu virus (known as H5 N1) since 1997 when seven people died in Hong Kong. The victims all had had contact with live bird markets there. Dr. Guan Yi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, explains the path of infection in Southeast Asia (Vietnam was the "epicenter") in 2003 and 2005 when wild birds infected poultry on small farms. The poultry was then handled by humans who became infected.

    Bird Flu Wars recounts the diverse plans explored at the emergency meetings held in 2006 at the WHO (World Health Organization) headquarters in Geneva to prevent the virus from becoming a pandemic. Some of these plans call for the massive destruction of areas infected by the virus, preventive vaccinations of poultry and the industrialization of breeding. Many countries are stockpiling Tamiflu, the only recommended anti-viral medication. Unfortunately, some countries like Vietnam cannot cope economically with what is required to suppress H5 N1. For now, the Swiss pharmaceutical company La Roche is producing Tamiflu vaccine in huge quantities in their thirteen closely guarded factories. To date, they refuse to release the formula so that the vaccine can be produced generically.

    If in the future the virus mutates to a human flu; it then could be easily transmitted from human to human, endangering a huge population. At that point, the world would have to wait for a vaccine that could be put into production quickly. Would there be enough anti- viral medicine for everyone in need?

    Item no.: LS00871143
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 325.00

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    BRIDGE OF WINDS

    This film takes us to a remote part of Yunan province in China where the Lisu people have lived for generations in a village carved out of a steep mountain gorge. Their only contact with the outside world is made by crossing a wild, rushing river. They matter-of-factly use a rope to tie themselves to a pulley which traverses a slender cable over the gorge. We watch them negotiate this aerial transport laden with wares bound for market. Even the village teacher, his body dangling over the turbulent river, is transported in this fashion.

    The Lisu cheerily battle the elements to go about their daily tasks, raising rice and corn and keeping livestock. Although it is a challenging lifestyle, their mutual support and close family ties sustain their spirits.

    Item no.: KY07000209
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 1992
    Price: USD 315.00

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    BUSY FOREVER: THE GOLDEN YEARS IN JAPAN

    Guy Brousmiche, director

    Recent demographic studies show that the aging of the Japanese is occurring at a much faster rate than anticipated. By the year 2025 there will be only two working people for every retired person, and within the next fifty years, one out of every three Japanese will be over 65. The particular Japanese response to this phenomenon is to stay in the workforce long after the normal retirement age.

    There was little debate when the Japanese parliament changed the minimum age of retirement from 60 to 65. This bill was met with popular approval; three quarters of workers aged 55 expressed their desire to keep working for another ten years. Today, more and more Japanese continue to work into their seventies. After retirement many continue doing odd jobs called "arbeito" to supplement their meager retirement benefits and to feel useful. They feel it will stave off senility, which they particularly dread.

    Busy Forever shows us some of these older people in their seventies and eighties. Dr. Ayakaoua, a geriatric physician , expects to continue his practice until aged 80. There is Mrs. Tanaka, the smiling 83-year-old vegetable seller; Mrs. Ishimi 75, an active fishmonger; Mr. Sakai an 80-year old taxi driver; and Mr. Chow who is passionate for karate yet still finds time to work as an engineer. There are even employment agencies specialize in finding work for older Japanese who are determined to remain busy forever.

    Review
  • "Americans studying aging and labor as well as students of Japanese area studies will benefit from viewing and considering the contents of this well-made documentary. Technically, this is an excellent production. It is well-paced, has fine camera work, and straightforward editing. Voiceovers are satisfactory.. ..The viewer's ability to focus on the faces, scenery, and action rather than on reading a line of text at the bottom of the screen is a real plus. Recommended." - Sheila Intner, Professor, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke for EMRO

    Item no.: TC07061033
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CAT AND THE MOUSE, THE

    Tibetans describe China as a cat trying to devour the Tibetan mouse.While the cat is stronger and better equipped for the fight, the wily mouse is nimble and has so far escaped the cat's clutches.

    This film is an intimate portrayal of Tibetan resistance to the Chinese occupation. It contrasts the moderate approach of the Dalai Lama with that of the young rebels who employ more direct forms of protest. The Dalai Lama sees his best hope in quiet, persistent diplomacy and media support on an international level. The young, exiled radicals secretly cross the border to organize opposition in Tibet.

    The Cat and The Mouse details the repressive forty-year occupation of Tibet by China and the human rights violations which has attempted to obliterate the religion and culture. Buddhist monks have been tortured and killed.It follows the dangerous exodus of young dissidents over the ice-covered mountains to refuge in Dharmsala, India.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1995

    Item no.: TT07000313
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 1996
    Price: USD 315.00

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    CHANGING HEART, A

    By Leigh Devine

    Fifty years ago, most marriages in Japan were arranged by parents and matchmakers (Nakodo). Arranged (Omiai) marriages were possible only within a culture of obedience. Obedient sons and daughters chose to do what their parents wanted them to do, the needs of society being more important than the needs of the individual. Today, Omiai marriages are relatively rare, but they continue to occur among people who are concerned with inherited property and titles.

    A Changing Heart takes an intimate look at how the Japanese, in only a century, have come to adopt love as a rationale for marriage. By examining the changing roles of women, the shape of families, the impact of World War II, as well as industrialization and the decline of tradition, the film illustrates how and why the Japanese have accepted new attitudes toward dating, romantic love and marriage.

    A Changing Heart also addresses the social consequences of this evolution. As people struggle with the high expectations fueled by this newly love-obsessed culture, marriages occur less often, birthrates decline and the number of divorces grows. Women in particular are increasingly choosing the independence of professional careers over married life, and young men are facing unwanted bachelorhood.

    Review
  • "This is a sensitive, well documented look at how marriage has changed in Japan. Sound, color, video, editing, and pace are professional and generally pleasing. Recommended" Sheila S. Intner, for Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: KZ07060314
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    CHILDREN OF TIBET: THE EXILE GENERATION

    By Melinda Wearne and Luke Hardiman

    Each year hundreds of Tibetan children risk their lives fleeing Tibet in search of a freer life and an education in India. The Tibetan Government has established schools for young refugees throughout India to provide them with a chance to learn about their own culture and religion and to be educated in their own language. Children of Tibet tells the remarkable story of three of these determined children who make the perilous journey across the Himalayas to India. Told in their own words, the children journey in the care of guides who take them by foot in the winter, leaving their families behind. Many others who went before them died in snowstorms in the mountains; others lost toes or feet to frostbite.

    Upon arriving in India not everything is as easy as the children expected. They do not all fit into the carefully organized school system. The film follows their lives as they prepare to leave the refugee center in Dharamsala and enter the school system.

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended.Through interviews, location footage, and maps, this documentary portrays the struggles of Tibetans to retain their culture through education. The dialog is in Tibetan and English with white English subtitles when necessary. The picture and sound quality is good and the maps are helpful additions. This documentary provides insight into the minds of those who wish to achieve better things for their children through an education that respects their language and cultural identity. Highly recommended for academic libraries collecting in areas including Asian studies and refugee or minority education." - Jessica Schomberg, Minnesota State Universityfor EMRO

    Award
  • Best Debut Film, International Documentary Section, Mumbai International Film Festival, 2004

    Item no.: FH07001037
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CHINA OPENS UP: FREEDOM AND CENSORSHIP IN CHINA

    By Frank Esman

    This is a view of China in transition through the eyes of six members of the intelligentsia. They are addressing the issue of freedom of expression and censorship. Among them are: an author who points out that if his book gets banned in China he will reap the profits from foreign sales; a film director who know how far he can go to get by the censors; a journalist dedicated to socialism who feels she must expose corruption despite receiving threats; a dramatist who speaks out about China's transformation; a composer who observes that Western music has gained acceptance; and an artist who looks forward to the day when "more voices can be heard."

    They offer widely differing opinions about China's future. Some have developed into high powered entrepreneurs; others still long for communism in its purest form. Artistic freedom is no longer looked upon as a force that threatens the system. There is a growing understanding that in a society as complex as China's, the state-sanctioned arts of the communist era are simplistic and irrelevant.

    Item no.: PG07000316
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 28 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    CHINA REVISITED: TWO SISTERS JOURNEY HOME

    By Lana Jokel

    Lana Jokel, the filmmaker, was born in Shanghai to a privileged family that lived an enviable life style. When the Communists came to power the family fled, ultimately to Brazil where her father became a successful industrialist. Lana eventually was educated in America, where she now lives, but her search for roots brought her back to China. This beguiling film records her first visit back to the land of her birth and the relatives she left behind.

    With her camera in hand she embarks on a personal odyssey to rediscover China. Lana reunites with her sole surviving Auntie, who at 90 lives in a rundown apartment that she does not want to leave since her neighbors watch out for her. Lana finds cousins she never met, some who led difficult lives under the Communists, but others who are now affluent. They show her the new China, a mingling of old traditions, such as tea tasting, with today's predilection for a western life style. We follow Lana as she visits old haunts, like the former French Club now transformed to the plush Garden Hotel. As she tours the country the viewer is given a quick history lesson of China's past by this insightful guide, infused with personal poignancy.

    Item no.: TZ07061039
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 56 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 195.00

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    CHINA: ONE CHILD POLICY

    In 1980, the Communist Government of China instituted a policy of one child per family as a means of curtailing population growth. Now, the success or failure of this highly controversial social experiment can be assessed. In this comprehensive report, correspondent John Taylor journeyed from the high rise flats of middle class Beijing to the poor farms of the Chinese countryside to see the effect of this policy.

    Population growth has been slowed, but this success has come at enormous social cost. Many families have suffered greatly under the policy, from forced abortions to political coercion and heavy fines. Liu Shuling, a poor farmer's wife with two children says: "After having one baby, when people tried to have a second one, if you didn't have money, they would pull down your house. If they didn't pull down your house, they would take away your timber and your horse carts."

    The policy has also given birth to an alarming imbalance between the sexes. For every 100 girls there are 120 boys. Traditionally, Chinese parents have preferred sons - because they support them in their old age and carry on the family name. Many couples have turned to ultrasound machines to guarantee they get the type of child they desire. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of female foetuses have been aborted. China is also becoming a nation of children without siblings. There is now a real concern that the One Child Policy has created a generation of spoilt children - so-called "little emperors and empresses."

    Review
  • " This film does a good job of personalizing some of the issues surrounding China's one child policy. Family situations are discussed in perspective with the nation's population growth. Loyalty to one's family and personal preferences are weighed against loyalty to one's nation.This film is informative and should serve as a vehicle to promote discussion. It is recommended for viewers from jr. high through adult and to the libraries that serve them. Recommended" - Educational Media Reviews Online.

    Item no.: KG00871038
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 22 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 250.00

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    CHINA: THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

    In a land of two billion people, this touching portrait focuses on one earnest young man who leaves his struggling rural family to seek his fortune in a big city, represents the life of millions of migrants in China now. China is a nation on the move to the big city. By the year 2000, 200 million Chinese farmers will have left their roots, searching for a better life in big city factories.

    The film follows Wu Zhong as he takes tearful leave of his childhood haunts and friends. His goal is to become rich and to send most of his money home to his loved ones. It takes many buses and trains to carry him from the familiar green rice paddies towards the seething factories on which he has pinned his hopes.

    Eventually he lands a job in a huge textile factory. Here he works long hours under miserable conditions for low pay. Half his salary goes for food, he has no job security, and he does not want to share his sorrows with his family back home. Despite his brave face, Wu Zhong learns quickly about China's harsh economic reality. The system of the "iron rice bowl" - the lifelong guarantee of labor - has been abolished. A few may strike it rich, but many will suffer.

    Item no.: EE07060317
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 40 minutes
    Copyright: 1997
    Price: USD 315.00

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    CHINA: TRADING IN DEATH

    Despite the economic success of China and ever increasing foreign investments, China is one of five countries where torture has reached epidemic proportions. For the workers who have created China's new commercial wealth, there has been little development in their civil rights. Foreign companies enjoy the benefits of cheap labor, but make no provisions for safety arrangements. If workers complain they are dispatched to bleak labor camps where they undergo "re-education." The death penalty is being increasingly prescribed as a panacea for all social ills.

    This film also describes how the powerful Public Security Bureau which controls all aspects of citizens' lives, usually chooses to ignore legal dictates. In court, lawyers have inadequate time to prepare a proper defense for their clients and rulings are usually arbitrary. The conviction rate for criminal cases is well over ninety percent. We hear from two lawyers who put their lives at risk to criticize the current system.

    Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists suffer discrimination and police harassment. Even foreign businessmen are vulnerable, as was shown in the case of an Australian sentenced to 17 years after he argued with his Chinese partner. Human rights violations could be curbed if the world's business community would apply pressure on its leaders.

    Item no.: AA00870318
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 30 minutes
    Copyright: 1997
    Price: USD 315.00

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    CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART COMES TO AMERICA

    By Lana Jokel

    This companion film focuses on the ground-breaking Chinese art being exhibited in the US that has excited Western curators and collectors alike. Often ambitious in scale and experimental in nature, this work reflects the unprecedented changes in China's economic, social and cultural life over the past decade. Included are photography, video art and installations. Insightful comments from curators, historians collectors and the artists themselves give a historical perspective to the works.

    Item no.: TE07001040
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART: ARTISTS WORKING IN CHINA

    By Lana Jokel

    While most westerners have some familiarity with traditional Chinese art, the isolationism and restrictive policies of the post war years have precluded a development of a contemporary art scene that would interest outsiders. This has all changed in recent years and there has been an astounding flowering of innovative, energetic and challenging contemporary art.

    Item no.: WJ00871041
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CHINESE FOOT BINDING: THE VANISHING LOTUS

    By Tang Yuen Mei Joani and Fung Wing Chuen Tely

    A pair of small feet -- three-inch golden lilies -- were once the male-designated yardstick for feminine beauty in China. A young girl"s feet were broken and bound inwards along the instep, a process that caused excruciating pain. Systematically bound, day after day, the stunted feet began to take on the coveted look of that profoundly sensuous image, the lotus bulb.

    Today there are fewer than 400 women with bound feet among the 1.25 billion people of China. Most of them are over 80 years old. Some of these women tell us of the event that branded their lives with its singular mark. Once an erotic symbol of beauty and eligibility, the bound foot confronts us with a custom that subjugated women to a brutal beauty myth.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2009

    Item no.: YK07000319
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 370.00

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    CHINESE HOSPICE, THE

    In Bejing stands the only hospital in China to specialize in allowing people approaching the end of their lives to die with dignity. It was established ten years ago by Dr. Li Wei, who had been a barefoot doctor in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. He saw much hardship during those years and vowed to help some of those people who survived.

    Compared to a Western hospital, this is a simple, basic facility. Care and respect permeates the atmosphere. Each of the elderly patients embodies the history of his or her generation. Entwined with their stories is film footage illustrating the turbulent times through which they lived. By focusing on the stories of a few people nearing the end of life, The Chinese Hospice lends a personal face to history.

    Review
  • "Highly recommended... for those interested in the sociology of aging in contemporary cultures." - Charles Greenberg, Yale University Medical Library

    Note
  • American Society on Aging, 2000

    Item no.: NR07000407
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 46 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 315.00

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    COLONEL JIN XING: CHINA'S MOST EMBLEMATIC TRANSSEXUAL

    A Film by Sylvie Levey, Pascal Vasselin and Arnaud Hamelin

    Shanghai"s principal dancer, 33-year-old Jin Xing, is a big star. She is the first choreographer to have received recognition in over half a century of national communism. But the most amazing thing about Jin Xing is that, up until 1995, this beautiful young woman was a man, a colonel in the People"s Liberation Army.

    This is a richly cinematic film, combining the colorful imagery of Shanghai"s dance world, the panoply of the Chinese People"s Army, and the heart-felt expressiveness of the young Colonel who turned his longing to be a woman into a reality. He battled the rigidity of Communist bureaucrats until they relented and allowed the first sex change operation in China. The film interviews his female surgeon, and also follows Jin Xing1s setbacks and recovery. His mother, although troubled by her son"s singular urge for a sex change, gives him total emotional support. In fact, she later finds a baby for adoption so that Jin Xing could happily become a mother.

    Despite Jin Xing"s transcendence in the dance world, she is still up against the Chinese bureaucracy which refuses to give her permission to perform on the stages of the Western world. The documentary shows Chinese society in awkward upheaval as this talented artist presses for change.

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended. The film is beautifully made, beautifully photographed, and provides lovely visual testimony to Jin"s ravishing skills as choreographer and dancer, both male and female." - Rebecca Adler for Educational Media Reviews Online

    Notes
  • Newfest, NY 2004
  • Outfest, Los Angeles, 2004

    Item no.: NA00870321
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 370.00

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    DEATH ON THE SILK ROAD

    This extraordinary undercover report from China exposes the suffering of thousands of Chinese whose lives have been destroyed by nuclear testing. It presents exclusive evidence from inside China of spiraling levels of cancer and birth deformities among the population of Xinjiang province - part of the Great Silk Road - which was opened to tourists in 1985.

    Up until 1996, China had carried out extensive nuclear tests in the Zinjiang province, which is in the northwest corner of China, bordering Kazakhstan. But Xinjiang is not unpopulated and isolated, as was Bikini Atoll. The filmmakers interviewed both victims and the doctors who are struggling to cope with their medical problems in the region's hospitals. The documentary reveals that the tests were carried out under highly dangerous conditions, which could have consequences beyond China's borders.

    Review
  • "Recommended." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2001

    Award
  • Rory Peck Award for Journalism, 1999

    Item no.: CY07000478
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 315.00

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    EAST WIND, WEST WIND: PEARL BUCK

    East Wind, West Wind follows the extraordinary life of Pearl Buck (1892-1973), a missionary child who was raised in rural China and developed a deep affection for the Chinese people she lived among. She became one of the most popular American writers of the 20th Century, especially for her best-selling novel, The Good Earth. Through her sympathetic eyes, the harsh life of the Chinese peasantry became vivid for westerners.

    The film interweaves fascinating early footage of both rural and urban China, with interviews with Asian scholars and her contemporaries. She holds the distinction of being the first American woman to win the Nobel prize, and she used her celebrity to draw attention to many social issues of her time. She was an outspoken advocate for women1s rights, civil rights, the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, mixed race adoption, and tolerance for the mentally retarded.

    Reviews
  • "This program is a fine overview of Buck1s remarkable career. Recommended for all libraries." - Library Journal

  • "Other facets of Buck"s life, such as her knowledge of China and involvement with civil and women"s rights are lesser known and interestingly revealed" - Booklist

    Item no.: DR00870327
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 90 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 215.00

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    EMPEROR'S EYE, THE: ART AND POWER IN IMPERIAL CHINA

    This spectacular film brings to light the priceless treasures of China's imperial art collection, relating them to the political climate of their time. It is an unforgettable glimpse into another culture and another age.

    Miraculously, the treasures survived the turbulence of war and revolution. When the Japanese invaded China in the 1930's, the precious works of art were spirited out of the Forbidden City. For years the collection was hidden all over China in caves, temples and school houses. Worth untold millions, it became the symbol of China's cultural survival.

    The Emperor's Eye is also the tale of a passionate collector, Emperor Chienlung, whose quest to create the greatest art collection in the world was actually a bid for his own immortality. Filmed with the cooperation of the National Palace Museum, the documentary shows the precious artworks - jade dragons, landscape painting, delicate porcelains, ancient bronze urns - that so few Westerners are privileged to see. Here is the definitive film on traditional Chinese art and culture.

    Reviews
  • "Interweaving the history and culture of the time, this fine documentary presents traditional Chinese art for those who cannot visit in person." - Booklist

  • "Recommended highly for high school, college and university levels as well as for public library and community audiences." - Sightlines

    Awards
  • CINE, Gold Eagle, 1990
  • Golden Apple, National Educational Film Festival, 1990

    Item no.: AK07000328
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 1990
    Price: USD 315.00

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    END OF EMPIRE: THE FALL OF SINGAPORE

    This film tells the harrowing story of the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1941-45. Archival film as well as fascinating interviews with two historians, Professors A. Jayathurai and Brian Farrell relate the tragedy of this important theater of war. But it is the story of Alexander Cockburn a young Scotsman who had recently signed on for a four-year stint as a pharmacist in the bustling colonial city that gives the dramatic history a personal dimension. Instead of enjoying a brilliant career in Singapore, Cockburn witnessed its swift and violent end, as well as the symbolic end of the British Empire.

    In the 1930s it was widely believed that Singapore was an impregnable fortress. When the well-trained and equipped Japanese invaded Northern Malaya in 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor, they easily defeated the under-prepared Indian, New Zealand and Australian troops who had joined the British there. When British officials realized Singapore would fall, they evacuated the colonials, leaving the Chinese, Indian and Malay populations to fend for themselves. Throughout this, Cockburn worked as a medical volunteer, cleaning up the bodies left from Japanese bombing. Two British battleships were sunk with nine hundred British sailors lost and the British surrendered after six weeks.

    Under the Japanese occupation, one hundred thousand prisoners of war were arrested and imprisoned or executed in six weeks. Cockburn was taken prisoner by the Japanese and spent four years in horrendous conditions, with almost no food or medicine available. He used his experience as a pharmacist to help his fellow inmates as much as he could. It is estimated that twenty to thirty thousand people perished in captivity. As Prof. Jayathurai says, "Churchill gave up Malaya for the defense of Europe. This was the end of the British Empire; everything after that was borrowed time."

    Review
  • "Highly recommended...A rich source of information about Singapore and enables the viewers to look at World War II and British colonialism from a Singaporean point of view...for high school, college and academic libraries." - Geetha Yapa , Science Library, University of California, EMRO

    Item no.: BE07060329
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    FROM MAO TO MONEY

    This is a colorful, ironic look at Chinese society as it is being transformed by burgeoning capitalism. After Deng Xiaoping first allowed private enterprise into new industrial zones, untold wealth has accrued to those who once followed Mao's dictates. We meet a former Red Guard who has become a billionaire, and a family in an old Mao commune which is now quoted on the stock exchange and provides each resident with an income without working. Once undreamed-of luxuries are shown off with pride.

    What does one call the new system? Market communism or communist capitalism? One thing is certain --there is a growing gap between rich and poor. The super rich worry that the government will raise taxes, while the poor worry about how to feed themselves, get health care and an education for their children. As capitalism spreads from Bejing and Shanghai to the provinces, entrepreneurs strive for the greatest profit.

    Item no.: NY07060332
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 28 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE, THE, TIANANMEN SQUARE, JUNE 4TH, 1989

    With startling immediacy, this short film captures the shock and horror the Chinese students experienced when government troops opened fire on them in Tiananmen Square. We hear students rallying for democracy just moments before they were to be gunned down. Skillfully compiled from still photographs smuggled out of China, eyewitness accounts, and news sound tracks, it recreates this tragic event in Chinese history.

    This unforgettable document will remind Americans that the dream of democracy does not come without sacrifice. From high school students studying world events to "Asia watchers" at universities, this film is a must.

    Review
  • "4 stars. Highly recommended for high school and college libraries and media centers and for any other collections that emphasize current world events, this video is a reminder that democracy should not be taken for granted." - Video Rating Guide for Libraries

    Notes
  • Montreal Film Festival, 1991
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1991
  • Nominated, Selected Films for Young Adults, ALA, 1991

    Awards
  • Bronze Apple, National Educational Film & Video Festival, 1990
  • First Prize, Short Film, Tokyo International Film Festival, 1990

    Item no.: GZ07000334
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 10 minutes
    Copyright: 1991
    Price: USD 170.00

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    HA HA SHANGHAI

    By Christine Choy

    In 1992 the filmmaker Christine Choy returned to Shanghai for the first time in over thirty years: to track down the title of her family's house. She also wanted to locate an old schoolmate. She found her quest was like going down the rabbit hole with Franz Kafka as a tour guide.

    Her mother had abandoned the family's house on leaving China for the U.S. in the early 1960's. Christine was sent to innumerable city housing authorities and agencies only to find that the house had never been registered with the city of Shanghai and the government had taken over the property when her mother left. Trying to take it back from the city now would "shame the city and therefore the country" and would be considered traitorous.

    Christine finally located her old girlfriend, Li Dao Wen, at the Music Conservatory after several baffling interviews with Li's estranged relatives and innumerable fortune tellers. The filmmaker found many people in Shanghai still haunted by the ghosts of the Cultural Revolution and guarded in their speech to avoid being labeled "anti-social. Her trip had become a frustrating voyage into the nature of modern China.

    Notes
  • Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, 2001
  • Taipei Golden Horn International Film Festival, 2001

    Item no.: BZ00870336
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 76 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 315.00

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    HABITUAL SADNESS: KOREAN COMFORT WOMEN TODAY

    Directed by Byun Young-Joo

    During World War II an estimated 200,000 women, mostly Korean, were forced by the Japanese into sexual slavery. This experience scarred the women, who hid their shame in silence. Now in their sixties and seventies, the surviving women have dared to speak of their suffering at the hands of their Japanese oppressors.

    This film captures the spirit and spunk of a group of survivors who live together in a sharing community. Amidst the activities of everyday life, they laugh, voice their tough minded views, and care intensely for one another. One of the women, dying of cancer, expresses her past in boldly colored paintings.

    Habitual Sadness is a reminder of women's vulnerability during war. It is also a testament to the strength of former victims who have exchanged their painful memories for the warmth of communal life.

    Review
  • "The victims do not look like they are weak. They look powerful. I think that is the spe- cial thing of my documentary." - Byun Young-Joo, director

    Item no.: LA07000337
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 70 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 270.00

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    HALF THE SKY

    Fifty years ago the Chinese Communist revolution promised women equality after thousands of years of subservience to men. But has the revolution reversed the tradition of tyranny towards women? As this film shows, today's Chinese women have little more control over their lives than that of their ancestors. Their concerns are neglected while their burdens increase.

    Half the Sky takes us both to remote villages and urban factories. Few women receive an education because education is not free and families will usually only spend money on boys. We learn that women are the first to be laid off in failing state run businesses. Private businesses hire men before women. Most enlightening are the candid remarks of individual women, from poor cave dwellers to education professional women. Despite the theory of equality, a woman remains obedient first to her father, than to her husband, and late in life to her son.

    A few women have gained leadership positions despite the obstacles. We hear from one who has made a successful career in politics. She speaks out for her oppressed sisters.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1997

    Item no.: ML07060338
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 315.00

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    HELEN FOSTER SNOW: WITNESS TO REVOLUTION

    Helen Foster Snow, collaborator and wife of historian Edgar Snow, left Utah as an inexperienced 18-year old and threw herself into the turmoil of Revolutionary China. This engrossing documentary of her life allows us to view rare archival footage and photos of what she witnessed from 1931 until 1940, as China experienced devastating floods, famine, revolution, civil war and bombardment and invasion by the Japanese.

    For historians in both China and the U.S., her first-hand account of the Chinese Revolution in the mid-1930's in her articles and book, Inside Red China, made a crucial contribution to the record of the birth of modern China. Her interviews of Mao and the men who worked alongside him for four decades after the Long March are considered highly significant by the historians and politicians interviewed in this film. She also contributed to her husband, Edgar Snow's more famous book, Red Star Over China (1936), work which was uncredited though substantial. Their troubled, competitive marriage ended in divorce in 1949.

    Today she is a hero to the Chinese for her participation in the student movement, her writing and her role in the creation of the wartime (WWII) industrial cooperatives called INDUSCO. Her death was marked by a ceremony in Tiananmen Square, covered by China's biggest TV stations and newspapers.

    Review
  • "The quality of the film is good, it is well edited, interviews are brief, voice-overs are appropriate, and the photographs of China in the 1930s from Snow's collection and the National Archives are quite wonderful... Snow's archives and the images of China it presents should be valuable to students and those interested in Chinese history, 20th Century history, women's history and Chinese-US relations. Recommended" - MC Journal; The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship

    Award
  • CINE Gold Eagle, 2001

    Item no.: TK07001198
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 295.00

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    HONG KONG-SHENZHEN: THE LITTLE WALL OF CHINA

    In 1978, Shenzhen was declared a special economic zone by the Chinese government, open to both native and foreign investors. Its development has been spectacular, with its population rising from 30,000 to 5 million inhabitants.

    When Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, the frontier between the former British territory and Shenzhen theoretically disappeared. However, in actuality the border is still closed and integration is slow to occur. For Hong Kong, the risk of a massive illegal Chinese emigration is viewed as a threat to its economic stability. Also, since Hong Kong remained a free port with no import taxes, the Chinese are controlling the border to prevent those from Shenzhen using it as a way to escape taxes

    The low cost of labor and real estate in Shenzhen have persuaded nearly 80% of Hong Kong manufacturers to relocate their factories there. Many successful "Hong Kongers" now want to live on the other side as well, in the beautiful new homes being built for them.

    Item no.: BC07001052
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    HUMAN TIDE

    This Nature of Things documentary is a sobering look at the explosive growth of world population that threatens to deplete the resources of our planet.Today the population is 5.5 billion, double that of the 1950's. Demographers fear that long before it doubles again, our vital ecosystems will collapse. Human Tide makes dramatically clear that the industrialized world will be as affected as the Third World.

    The largest population growth is in the poorest countries. Nafis Sadik of the UN Population Council tells us that two thirds of the world's women do not have access to family planning. This means that disease, famine and poor education are likely to be the destiny of future generations.

    Paul Ehrlich, population biologist at Stanford University, urges that the "haves" help the "have nots" survive, while ensuring that the birth rate becomes lower than the death rate. At the present population level we are using up our irreplaceable capital of agricultural soil, fossil ground water and biodiversity. Our fate is likely to be decided in the 1990's.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1995

    Item no.: DC07060341
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 37 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 315.00

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    IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR: THE RAPE OF NANJING

    This is the only American documentary film to examine the Rape of Nanjing, December 13, 1937, when the Japanese Imperial troops marched into this city in China. In just six weeks they murdered 300,000 civilians, and systematically raped and killed thousands of women. Today, the Japanese government continues to deny it ever happened.

    In the Name of the Emperor is a monument to the suffering of the Chinese at the hands of the Japanese during World War II. It weaves together rare footage of the Japanese occupation, diary entries from Americans who were there, and the eye witness accounts of surviving Japanese soldiers. Especially unique is the newly discovered film footage of the massacre shot by John McGee, an American missionary who was living in Nanjing. This footage was part of the testimony at the war crimes trial, but has never been seen until now.

    The Nanjing Massacre was the impetus for the Japanese system of "comfort stations" or military brothels in occupied territories to stem the tide of venereal disease. Included is an interview with a Korean "comfort women' who speaks openly about her sexual servitude. These war crimes continues to disrupt diplomatic relations between Japan, the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan to this day.

    The horrors captured in this ground breaking documentary reminds us of the exploitation and suffering of women, and indeed all civilians during war time. There are frightening parallels to the atrocities committed in Bosnia and Rwanda today.

    Reviews
  • "... bears witness to humanity's seemingly unlimited capacity for inhuman behavior." - The New York Times

  • "incisive, critically important documentary" - Film Journal International

  • "It is hoped" In The Name of the Emperor' will be seen by as many people as possible" - The Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly

    Notes
  • Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, 1995
  • Asian American International Film Festival, 1995
  • Hong Kong International Film Festival, 1995

    Award
  • Special Jury Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1995

    Item no.: VE07000343
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 1997
    Price: USD 315.00

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    INNER VISIONS: AVANT GARDE ART IN CHINA

    This documentary gives us a rare opportunity to meet young artists and intellectuals in Beijing and hear how they steer a course between survival and artistic expression. This new generation of artists does not paint scenes of nature like the classical painters. Nor do they produce the oversized socialist realist canvases that were popular during the Mao years. These young men and women, influenced by Western modern art, have turned inward for inspiration, expressing their emotions through art.

    How do they fare in post Tiananmen Square China? They have not had an official exhibit since the student rebellion. Nor is there a market for their work. But most have jobs that enable them to support themselves. Since painting and sculpture are considered less threatening to the regime than the printed word, their art is tolerated.

    Reviews
  • "A brief and engaging video." - Journal of Asian Studies

  • "Very useful for classes on modern Chinese politics, history or society." - Prof. Ralph Crozier University of Victoria

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1995

    Award
  • Bronze Award, National Educational Film & Video Festival, 1994

    Item no.: MS07000346
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 28 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 315.00

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    INSIDE THE HERMIT KINGDOM: NORTH KOREA

    By I Sun-Dyung

    North Korea is known as the hermit kingdom because it has been cut off from the rest of the world. Cruelly colonized by Japan early in the 20th century, and split from the south after World War II by cold war politics, it has suffered repressive governments and frequent famines.

    This film, made by I Sun-Dyung, the daughter of Korean immigrants, was an attempt to understand the country that has been demonized by the West, particularly the US. She was the first western journalist allowed entry. Her film traces the history of Korea in the 20th century and includes fascinating interviews with some of the world1s foremost experts on North Korea, including Prof. Bruce Cumings of the University of Chicago, and Donald Rickerd of the Center for Asia Pacific Studies, who give fresh perspective on this enigmatic country.

    We learn that communist ideology has taken a back seat to the philosophy of "Juche" Il Sung. Kim Il Sung was revered as "the great liberator" from Japan1s brutal rule. Most North Koreans are loyal to his son, their present leader Kim Jong -IL who succeeded his father in 1994. Despite having suffered severe food shortages, North Koreans have been taught that they can survive on their own. The country feels threatened by America and believes its nuclear weapons are "chips" in a power struggle with the West. Included are in -depth interviews with a former bodyguard of the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-IL and testimonies from defectors and survivors of the country1s infamous concentration camps. This fascinating film contributes to our understanding of an important player in the geopolitcs of the 21st century.

    Item no.: CR07060347
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 370.00

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    INTERESTING TIMES: THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS

    Directed by Duan Jinchuan

    We meet Lu Guo Hua, a wheeler dealer who uses his position as birth control officer to be the local political power broker. When the village head chastizes him for overlooking a villager's third pregnancy, Lu Guo Hua retaliates by opposing the village head's re-election. The film gives an insider's view of the beginnings of democratic politics in a village in northeastern China.

    Review
  • "Common threads throughout the videotapes in this set are clearly evident, but each stands alone and could be used productively in support of curriculum related to its individual subject." - Sheila Intner, Simmons College GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke for EMRO

    Item no.: PU07060379
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    INTERESTING TIMES: THIS HAPPY LIFE

    Directed by Jiang Yue

    Mr. Fu is head of passenger affairs at Zhengzhou, one of China"s busiest railroad stations. His working life is chaotic and his private life traumatic. His first wife died as a result of a compulsory abortion, enforced by China"s one child policy, leaving Mr. Fu to bring up their eighteen month-old baby son himself. His second marriage is an unhappy one and during the filming his son, now fourteen years old, decides to leave him and join the army. This intimate portrait of Mr. Fu and his colleagues is tragic, deeply moving and sometimes hilarious.

    Reviews
  • "Common threads throughout the videotapes in this set are clearly evident, but each stands alone and could be used productively in support of curriculum related to its individual subject." - Sheila Intner, Simmons College GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke for EMRO

    Item no.: WL07060388
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 59 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    INTERESTING TIMES: WAR OF LOVE

    Directed by Jiang Yue & Duan Jinchuan

    Beijing social worker Hu Yanping and her friend nurse Liu Xian spend all their evenings and weekends running an amateur dating agency. The agency flourishes in a social climate where China"s new career women discover that their new found wealth and independence is threatening to many men, making it harder to find husbands. In sharp contrast to her dating service, social worker Hu Yanping spends her working day as a lawyer dealing with women victims of marital breakdown and domestic violence.

    Review
  • "Common threads throughout the videotapes in this set are clearly evident, but each stands alone and could be used productively in support of curriculum related to its individual subject." - Sheila Intner, Simmons College GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke for EMRO

    Item no.: WD00870394
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    INTERESTING TIMES: XIAO'S LONG MARCH

    Directed by Wu Gong

    China has a standing army of more than one million men. For eighteen year old Xiao Zhenning, a poor boy from a provincial town, unemployed and fed up with life in his parents" two room apartment, the Red Army is a place of last resort. As Xiao says ruefully: "With no college education and no job, there is nowhere else to go." The film follows Xiao through his last listless days with his nagging parents in their tiny apartment and into his three months basic training with the Red Army. He learns things about himself and his "place" in China"s so called classless society, which both surprise, upset and ultimately liberate him.

    Review
  • "Common threads throughout the videotapes in this set are clearly evident, but each stands alone and could be used productively in support of curriculum related to its individual subject." - Sheila Intner, Simmons College GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke for EMRO

    Item no.: KF00870400
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 39 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    JAPAN: THE TARNISHED MIRACLE

    Japan, the second most powerful economy in the world, now faces a growing financial crisis bad loans, bankruptcies and a government debt that is one of the largest in the world. This video examines just how the Japanese miracle lost its luster, and the factors that will shape the country's future: a changing work ethic; a rapidly aging population; the economic important of the changing role of women; and shifting loyalties as employers can no longer guarantee lifelong job security and employees begin to value personal time.

    The film succeeds in putting Japan's economic and social turmoil in historical perspective. Interviews with academics, business people, and a broad spectrum of society give a human dimension to a crisis that has enormous impact on the global economy.

    Item no.: AJ00870348
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 18 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 215.00

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    JAPANESE NIGHTMARE, THE: WOMEN WHO DON'T WANT TO MARRY

    Directed by Poul Erik Heilbuth

    In Japan, more and more young women are rebelling against the societal norm. They do not want to settle down, marry and have families. Instead, more and more have careers and live with their parents enabling them to have disposable income which they spend for their own enjoyment. Prof. Yamada calls them "single parasites."

    Although Japanese women have made strides in the marketplace, Japanese men still think of their wives as subserviant. Seeing their mothers' constricted lives, it is not surprising that so many young women have given up on marriage. However, the impact on the economy and on demographics is dramatic. The birth rate has fallen significantly (as it has in many Western countries) and every second pregnancy ends in abortion. As the population ages, a diminishing workforce will not be sufficient to support their elders' pensions.

    Review
  • "an interesting discussion starter for sociology or women's studies classes." - School Library Journal

    Item no.: PH07000349
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 28 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    JUSTICE: JAPAN STYLE

    Almost every person charged with committing a serious crime in Japan is convicted and goes to jail. Jury trials simply do not exist and convictions are based on confessions. Some believe that Japanese criminal court cases are simply ceremonies to impose punishment rather than determine guilt.

    The filmmaker obtained rare access to Japan's jails, where a cruel, secret system allows the abuse, torture and death of inmates. Prisons have spartan conditions and extremely strict rules; prisoners can be kept in solitary confinement for decades, others live eight to a room. In the last ten years there have been close to 250 suspicious deaths in custody. The film recounts the tragic ordeal of Sakae Menda who spent thirty-four years on death row after he confessed to a crime he did not commit, a confession obtained following six days of sleep deprivation and beatings. His testimony is powerful evidence of the flaws in Japan's justice system where reform is unlikely and Western notions of human rights are relatively new.

    Review
  • " Highly Recommended. Altschwager's narration provides context for eyewitness accounts of the "third-world" nature of the Japanese system. The stories of former inmates, family members and activists are smoothly edited, transitions are clear and the information is reinforced by footage of inmates' daily activities inside the prisons. Violent acts are described verbally but no injuries or violent scenes are shown, although videotape of a prisoner being blindfolded and prepared for hanging is excerpted during an interview with a death penalty opponent." - Maureen Puffer-Rothenberg, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, for EMRO

    Item no.: TB07061063
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 24 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 250.00

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    KOREA: THE UNFINISHED WAR

    Directed by Brian McKenna

    This film documents a war where neither side was victorious, nor defeated, a struggle that came very close to thermonuclear war, and that still resonates in the geopolitical machinations between East and West.

    From 1950 to 1953 more than a million men fought under the United Nations flag, with most of the manpower from the United States. More Americans were killed in that war than in Vietnam. The boundary between North and South remains the most militarized zone in the world. The war is still shrouded in secrecy; questions remain about whether biological weapons were used.

    Korea: The Unfinished War combines archival footage, first person accounts with soldiers and civilians on both sides, direct quotes from Truman, MacArthur, Mao and Stalin, clearly showing their roles in the conflict. Atrocities on both sides are cited. In the years since there has been an uneasy truce, often broken, between the Koreas. But beyond that, the Korean War bequeathed a global hangover which haunts mankind today¡Xbiological weapons. The films investigates Chinese and North Korean charges that the U.S. secretly deployed these weapons during the war.

    This important film provides the background for today's fear of nuclear testing by North Korea.

    Item no.: WM07061145
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 114 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 450.00

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    LADIES OF THE LAKE, THE: A MATRIARCHIAL SOCIETY

    This stunning film takes us to a rare matriarchal community in southwest China. The ancient Mosuo culture has survived both the time of the concubines and the Cultural Revolution, although it is now being threatened with extinction by Beijing family-planning policies and by absorption into the mainstream of the Chinese majority.

    In the Mosuo culture, power is handed from the matriarch to her most intelligent daughter. The women live together, apart from their husbands whom they see only at the end of the day. Property is passed down from mother to daughter. The women do the heavy work, while the men lounge about at the homes of their mothers. The men"s main job is to fulfill their conjugal duties. Interestingly, the word "father" does not exist.

    This is probably the only region in China where girl babies are more valued than baby boys. While the Mosuo are shy about revealing their feelings, they have overcome this shyness here and talk about love, marriage, divorce, and the difficulties of living apart.

    Life in this part of rural China is changing fast. The government wants to make Lake Lugu into a tourist site with the Mosuo people as the main attraction. Mosuo children are being educated and learn about city life with its Western goods. This film may be the only reminder of a disappearing society.

    Review
  • "...has successfully documented some major features of Moso culture, providing classrooms at both university and high school levels a much-needed visual document to enhance students" understanding of cultural diversity within China." - Asian Educational Media Services

    Award
  • National Women"s Studies Association, 1999

    Item no.: MZ00870351
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 20 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 245.00

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    LOST CITY, THE: BEIJING

    This enlightening film looks at the issues of urban gentrification and preservation in Beijing today. For the past decade many of the city's old neighborhoods, the ancient, densely populated enclaves of narrow, winding streets and crumbling courtyard houses have been steadily demolished due to industrialization and modernization. The houses called "hutongs," were built around a central courtyard which provided structure for each family's development. Many were labelled unsafe by the government and have now been replaced by office towers and high-rise apartments.

    Much of the devastation has occurred in the Quianmen neighborhood, once the domain of the Qing dynasty (1644 -1911). For centuries it was filled with hutongs, opera halls and boarding houses filled with scholars. Quianmen is only one piece of the continuing citywide slum clearance and construction boom that have accelerated to prepare for the Olympic Games in 2008. Affordable housing has become such a serious problem that many people from old Beijing have been forced to the city's outskirts because they can no longer afford to live in their old neighborhoods. This has led to enormous traffic jams as more Chinese workers own cars and commute from the outskirts to the center. In 2005 the government came up with a new city plan which they hope will provide a way to accomodate both the city's heritage and its new development. This plan may provide for the city's growth as a world power center but has it come too late to save the city's architectural heritage?

    Item no.: VV00871152
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 73 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 350.00

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    LOST MAGIC OF THE SHANGHAI ART STUDIOS, THE

    By Marie-Claire Quiquemelle and Julien Gaurichon

    At the end of the 1950's, the Shanghai Art Studios were among the most important in the world. They employed 500 workers and were acclaimed all over China. In "The Lost Magic of the Shanghai Art Studios," numerous beautiful film extracts, paintings and drawings illustrate that the Shanghai Studio's creativity was comparable to the work of the Disney Studio, but reflected a more delicate sensibility. The studio chief, Wang Laiming, had begun working on a full-length animation, "The Monkey King," which was to become the masterpiece of Asian animation. A labor of love, it was finally completed after ten years, in 1965. But that was at the dawn of the Cultural Revolution. Wang Laiming and the film's director, Te Wei, were arrested by the Red Guards, along with many other designers, and imprisoned.

    The studio fell silent for ten years, its films forgotten. Only a few propaganda films hailing President Mao were produced. In the mid-1980's, the studio attempted to bring itself back to life and regain its former glory but the whole animation business had changed. Much of the work is now handled by computers and the business has had to adapt to the size needed for the television screen. In the film, many of Wang Laiming's collaborators and Te Wei, now 88 years old, recall the golden age of the studio as well as the hard times they experienced during the Cultural Revolution. This film is a testimony to the former glory of the studio's achievement. A unique, important film for students of Chinese culture, film studies and animation.

    Item no.: YY07061126
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 56 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 350.00

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    LOVE SONGS OF THE MIAO IN CHINA

    This richly photographed film captures the lifestyle of the Miao who live deep in the mountains of southern China. The Miao preserve the traditions of the past, unaffected by the changes of modern China.

    The Miao's courtship rituals are particularly interesting, because of the importance placed on love songs. We watch the young men and women woo one another with their soulful songs. Each year there is a regional festival called Pa-po-jeh where the young go in search of marriage partners from another village. The film focuses on a seventeen-year-old girl who attends the festival, and her family's every day life within their village. This is a rare opportunity to see life in a remote area of China.

    Item no.: CG07060231
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Copyright: 1993
    Price: USD 270.00

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    MACAO: A CHINESE LAS VEGAS?

    Since the former Portuguese colony Macao was ceded to China in 1999, it has become China's "Empire of Gambling." It derives all its income from tourism, thanks to its sleek new casinos and shopping malls. It's a short ferry ride for Hong Kongers, who visit on weekends in droves. Prostitution is illegal in the People's Republic of China, but here tourists can go to "girly" bars with no worries.

    Thousands are employed by the casinos, with 80% of the population indirectly making their living from them. Incredibly, all of the casinos belong to the same person: Stanley Ho, an elderly man who remains invisible and untouchable. We meet Silveira Machado who describes how cosmopolitan and lively the city was throughout the twentieth century, with Portuguese, English, French, Italians, Russians and Chinese mixing easily. The film also traces the history and special status of the city from its early days as a Portuguese settlement in the 16th century, through its development as the largest Chinese commercial port for the rest of the world. Then in the 19th century, the large ships preferred the deep-water port of Hong Kong and that ended Macao's prosperity. Until now...

    Review
  • "It will be interesting to see how the city and the Chinese government meet the challenges of capitalism in a communist society. Recommended." - Brad Eden, University libraries, University of Nevada, for EMRO

    Item no.: BP00871068
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    MAO'S NEW SUIT

    By Sally Ingleton

    For decades people in China modeled themselves on Chairman Mao who wore a simple worker's outfit in blue or grey. It was known as the "Mao Suit." To wear anything different meant that you stood out, and in China any sign of independent thought had always been dangerous. But China's doors have opened - and so have people's wardrobes.

    This irrepressible film follows the fortunes of two attractive thirty- year-old Bejing fashion designers who are out to make their mark on the international fashion industry. Both women were born during the Cultural Revolution, but unlike their parents, they are dedicated to their careers, not to politics.

    Sun Jian, witty and confident, and her friend Guo Pei, softer and more diplomatic, travel to Shanghai to participate in the most important fashion show. Once there, they are plagued by problems - the slide projectors don't work; the student models are uncomfortable with the bold clothes; the location doesn't attract the press. But the show must go on and the friends are optimistic that it will be better next year. A delightful film to show the human face of changing China.

    Reviews
  • "Tells us more about the state of China today than half a dozen worthy news bulletins." - The Observer (UK)

  • "Not only is the film full of optimism and character but it also offers intimate glimpses of a changing China." - Evening Standard (UK)

    Notes
  • Windy City Documentary Festival, 1998
  • Hawaii International Film Festival, 1997

    Item no.: CY00870357
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 51 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 315.00

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    MARATHON MONKS

    The spiritual side of Japanese society is often overlooked. This fascinating report focuses on Genshin Fujinami, a corporate employee who became a monk and embarked on a search for meaning in his life. He is one of only forty-six Japanese monks in the last four centuries to have completed a grueling running test, known as the "Kaihogyo." It is not simply running, but rather a pilgrimage around the sacred mountain, worshipping Buddha through nature and gaining intense personal awareness.

    During the test, which takes more than three months, he walks or runs through the forest in rope sandals for seventeen hours a day, sleeping only two hours a night. He subsists on a rice ball and a bowl of noodles each day. Tradition decrees that monks who begin the Kaihogyo but fail to complete it must kill themselves. As a final endurance test, Fujijami must complete the "doiri" -- going for nine days without food, drink or sleep. Another monk who completed the Doiri says: "It is not about controlling worldly desires, but denying them. This is why some monks are able to hear the sound of ash falling from an incense stick, or smell food being prepared at the foot of the mountain."

    Fujinami says, "You must think positively. I can't allow myself to think, What if?"

    Review
  • "a fascinating glimpse of a seldom-seen sect." - Booklist

  • "Recommended for any library..." - C. Dunham, Fairfield University, EMRO

    Item no.: HK00871071
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 20 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 250.00

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    MATCH MADE

    Directed by Mirabelle Ang

    Marriage customs reveal much about the economic and social structure of a country. This documentary, filmed in Ho Chi Minh City, chronicles the search of an awkward 38-year-od Singaporean for a young, beautiful Vietnamese bride, with the help of a marriage broker. Ricky, the bachelor, sits in a modest hotel room, self consciously assessing the shy young women who present themselves as candidates for marriage. Communication is accomplished with the help of a translator since Ricky, speaks only Chinese, and the girls speak Vietnamese.

    The young women still in the running are subjected to medical examinations, to insure they are disease free and virgins. The marriage brokers are well versed in arranging introductions, quick picture perfect weddings, travel documents... and payments to the bride's family. Ricky selects the beautiful, 20 year old, Nhanh, after assuring himself that she will take care of his ailing mother.

    The film follows the couple as they purchase rings and clothes for the wedding. The marriage is accomplished within three days of the meeting. While her travel documents are being processed Nhanh says goodbye to her family in their dusty village. Then she heads for her new life in high-rise Singapore, with hope to fulfill her duties as a good daughter-in-law, along with the uncertainty of her new future.

    Stay tuned to see how two people's search for happiness unfolds.

    Notes
  • Cinema du Reel, 2007
  • Vienna International Film Festival, 2006
  • San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 2006

    Item no.: EL07001222
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    MONGOLIAN CASHMERE TRADERS

    The nomadic goat herders of Mongolia, who live on the plains southwest of Ulan Bator, are thriving in the new economic climate. Long controlled by the government, wool from the cashmere goats is now on the free market. Here, on the broad plateau, the sale of large volumes of fine cashmere wool is negotiated between tribespeople and traders.

    We get a close- up look at several nomadic families whose traditional ways have been changing. Riyshya traded his wool for a stylish new motor bike on which he proudly cruises the plateau. Clearly, new commodities are being introduced. Rice, which had always been scarce, has become part of the staple diet. The small community has established its own school, so children no longer have to travel long distances daily.

    Among the herders, all important matters are discussed together as a group. The film provides a fascinating insight into a traditional community successfully adapting to changing times.

    Item no.: DH00870360
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 24 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 270.00

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    MUSICAL STEPPES OF MONGOLIA, THE

    Alain Desjacques, a well-known ethnomusicologist, takes us on a pilgrimmage to find and record the best traditional musicians and singers on the steppes of Mongolia. Desjacques had spent time in Mongolia before and had learned the language. Thus he was welcomed and given access to domestic life, with its closely knit families and intergenerational living.

    Set against stunning vistas of the rugged terrain, the film captures not only the music, but the richly textured details of daily life - hospitality customs, food preparation, games, caring for the herds. It is a portrait of a people who live almost entirely off their animals - horses, yaks, camels, and sheep - with little contact with the outside world.

    Travelling by horseback, truck and foot, Desjacques tracks down the most revered diphonic musicians. The diphonic sound combines a base drone with a melodic upper register. We hear part of an epic song which takes the singer seven days to perform, completely from memory. The venerable flutist, Narantsogt, performs inside his yurt, producing diphonic sounds that mimic nature. His daughter serves the customary salted tea and yak yogourt fermented in a goat skin bag.

    The Musical Steppes of Mongolia provides a unique view of a rapidly disappearing culture.

    Review
  • "Especially precious because the culture that nurtured the music is rapidly disappearing." - AAS Annual Meeting

    Notes
  • American Anthropological Association, 1995
  • Association of Asian Studies, 1995

    Item no.: KT07060240
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 51 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 370.00

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    NANJING NIGHTMARES

    By Guo Fangfang and Maggie Siggins

    The Japanese subjugation of the capital of China in 1937 - 38 has been called "The Rape of Nanjing" or the "Nanjing Atrocity." It is considered one of the most brutal, sadistic acts of war in modern history and caused psychological repercussions to succeeding generations of Chinese.

    This documentary recounts the historical events leading up to the terrifying occupation: the growth of China's capital city, Nanjing; the expansionist ambitions of Japan; and the large Japanese army, intent on revenge after meeting fierce resistance by the Chinese army in the defense of Shanghai. Archival film footage depicts the full horror of the genocide in Nanjing, in which some 300,000 people were killed and 80,000 women were raped, in a one month period.

    These distant wartime events take on a deeper meaning when the film focuses on the effect the occupation had on one Nanjing family, the Wangs. Wang Ping recounts how his father and mother survived the war by hiding in the International Safety Zone set up by the American and German embassies.

    However, the terror his mother experienced during the Japanese occupation and the sadness caused by the loss of several family members, affected her so severely that she became mentally ill. Her granddaughter speaks movingly about how this depression affects her family even today. A great-grandson remembers his great-grandmother looking under the bed for "Japanese devils" every night before bedtime. The mental anguish caused by the Rape of Nanjing has lasted for sixty-four years and continues today.

    NOTE: This film contains graphic images of war victims.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2002

    Item no.: YF00870363
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    NINE DAYS OF HELL: JAPAN'S TOUGHEST SCHOOL

    Japan's most ambitious parents pack off their promising kids at holiday time to an academic boot camp that will either make them or break them. Successful completion of this ordeal enables them to stand up to the tremendous pressures of the Japanese school system.

    Up before dawn, drilled before eating, constantly quizzed, prodded and harassed to learn by rote, these kids are on constant alert except for a few hours sleep at night. Even breakfast is not a respite since it is eaten while pouring over a book. Each student must pass an oral examination, grilled by a stern panel of academicians, who goad and mock them and exhort them to present their ideas more fiercely.

    While many Japanese approve of this privately run program, there are some who question whether it stifles creativity and independent thought.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1993

    Item no.: ZA07000364
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 18 minutes
    Copyright: 1993
    Price: USD 215.00

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    NO SEX, NO VIOLENCE, NO NEWS: THE BATTLE TO CONTROL CHINA'S AIRWAVES

    By Sharon Connolly, Susan Lambert & Stefan Moore

    This unique film examines the battle raging to control China's airwaves. Working with a government that allows nothing of social or political import to be broadcast, entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia bring their full complement of consumerism and mindless entertainment to the millions or Chinese greedy for a glimpse of the outside world.

    Prof. Leonard Chu of Hong Kong Baptist University sees the arrival of television to the villages of China as a positive development, even with its limited programming. He applauds the new openness, providing a "window on the world." On the other hand, we hear from the director of Shanghai Communications whose only interest is in selling. He sees television solely as a tool for promoting Chinese products in their developing market. Gary Darcy, CEO of Murdoch's Star Network describes how BBC News was cancelled from the schedule because the Chinese government would never allow a newscast from abroad.

    Dr. Geremie Barme, a widely respected observer of Chinese society says, "Chinese television is a negation of the social contract which provided free educations, pensions, and social services to the people and peasants. Instead, the self sacrificing citizen of the past is being turned into a consumer."

    Review
  • "Recommended...as a case study on the effect of commercial television on an emerging consumer economy." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2002

    Item no.: GX07060646
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 370.00

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    NORTH KOREA - SHADOWS AND WHISPERS

    By Kim Jung-Eun

    Since 1995 two million North Koreans have starved to death from famine. Hundreds of thousands of others have illegally crossed the border to China in search of food. This documentary, filmed in the remote northeast mountains of China, captures the dire circumstances of these refugees, who must subsist furtively in primitive caves, under floorboards and in basements. If caught they will be sent back and put to death.

    Families have been torn apart. Many North Korean refugees have had to hand their children over to Chinese orphanages where the children will at least get enough to eat and an education. Or they have been forced to give their children up for adoption.

    The stories are heart-rending. One family had to leave their five year old in an orphanage as he wailed "don't leave me." Orphaned and abandoned children live on the streets where they beg for food. Shadows and Whispers brings us up close to the human beings who become merely statistics on the evening news. With the recent rapprochment between North and South Korea, conditions will hopefully improve.

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2002

    Item no.: TE07060365
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    OUR NATION: A KOREAN PUNK ROCK COMMUNITY

    The rise of a new youth subculture in the Republic of Korea is an outgrowth of dramatic changes occurring there in the 1990's. The country elected its first civilian president, it experienced new prosperity, and became increasingly exposed to Western influences. Young Koreans became exposed to the internet and a steady stream of new musical influences. Our Nation is a stunning portrayal of how Korean youth are using punk rock to find their voices in a rapidly changing culture.

    Through the eyes of two young college age fans, we journey through the underground punk rock scene. The small club "Drug" features bands with names like Crying Nut, No Brain and Weeper, and the all-female band Supermarket. To Americans the flashing lights, stomping bodies, blaring sounds and angry incantations are nothing new. But seeing it in an Asian culture known for restraint raises many questions. Sociology professor Cho Hae Joang provides a socio-historical overview of the youth subcultures in Korea, and the emergence of consumer capitalism with the concomitant economic crisis of the late 90's. Our Nation gives air to a multiplicity of voices on issues such as the role of the school system in the lives of Korean youth, their relationships with their parents, and indeed the impact of globalization on the culture.

    Reviews
  • "The film, like the scene it sets out to document, is fast paced,youthful, stylish, and frenetic. It will hold and intrigue American youth audiences..." - Asian Educational Media Service, University of Illinois

  • "Overall, this is a good film that audiences from high school on up should enjoy. Recommended for music, popular culture, sociology, Asian studies." - Robert Freeborn, Pennsylvania State University Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "recommended for Asian studies collections and public libraries in communities with active Korean patronage." - Library Journal Notes
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2002
  • Chicago Asian American Showcase, 2002
  • New York Underground Film Festival, 2002
  • Seoul Punk Rock Film Festival, 2001

    Item no.: MP07060243
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 39 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    PLUM BLOSSOM IN SNOW: FALUN GONG IN CHINA

    By Elefteria Kalogritsa

    Falun Gong is an ancient meditative practice that enjoyed a revival in China in the 1990's. The government approved it at first, but as it gained in popularity it was seen as a threat. Seventy to 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong, when it was outlawed in 1999. The government started brutally suppressing the followers. Practitioners have been beaten, placed in psychiatric hospitals where brainwashing and torture are used; others are held in labor camps where severe abuse and even murder have been reported. The government tries to justify its actions by fabricating stories about the dangers of Falun Gong.

    Human rights groups around the world are calling attention to the Chinese government's abuses. The film relates the story of a woman Zhizhen Dai whose husband was persecuted and murdered for his belief in Falun Gong. She now journeys around the world telling of his brutal death and of the ongoing suffering of millions of Chinese persecuted practitioners.

    Note
  • American/Chinese Human Rights Film Festival, Washington D.C., 2007

    Item no.: WN07001131
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    RED CAPITALISM: CHINA'S ECONOMIC REVOLUTION

    An economic revolution is turning China into the world's largest economy. The birthplace of Chinese capitalism is Shenzhen which has exploded from a farming village to an industrial center of 3 million people.This film shows how Western corporations are moving factories to Shenzhen to profit from cheap labor and join one of the world's largest consumer markets. There are 58,000 joint venture corporations - from Proctor & Gamble to Volkswagen - for an annual economic growth of ten percent.

    So desirable is it to work in Shenzhen that the city must be patrolled to keep out the teeming hopefuls. Scientists are working as clerks, and teachers on assembly lines because they earn more doing menial work here. This Mecca of free enterprise has its seamy side. Crime and prostitution abound. Yet from Avon salesladies to manic millionaires, its inhabitants exhibit boundless enthusiasm for the future.

    Review
  • "Red Capitalism' does a good job of illustrating many of the most important social trends that have occurred in China over the last several years...consumerism, commercialism and corruption all receive their due." - The Journal of Asian Studies

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1995

    Award
  • Silver Apple, National Educational Film & Video Festival, 1995

    Item no.: ZJ07060373
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 370.00

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    REUNION: THE BITTER AFTERMATH OF MAO'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION

    Reunion tells the emotionally wrenching story of Wang Lucheng who gets the startling news that the illegitimate daughter he was forced to abandon at birth twenty-eight years ago has been searching for him and wants to visit him in Beijing. The depth of his sorrow and shame at this abandonment is such that he can hardly bear to meet her.

    Wang was part of the "Sent-down Generation" of Chairman Mao's Cultural revolution of 1966-76. Sixteen million youths were sent from urban areas to the countryside where they had to engage in farm labor. Their education was cut short, leaving them disadvantaged as China's economy prospers. Wang's meager lifestyle exemplifies this problem.

    Wang's daughter, He Hai Xia is determined to travel the long distance from her village to Beijing to meet her father. The personal anguish of both father and daughter during their reunion brings into sharp relief the pain caused by one of the greatest upheavals in world history

    Review
  • "The film shows the lasting impact of history on people1s lives...recommended for academic libraries and for students of history and Asian studies." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Note
  • Association for Asian Studies, 2002

    Item no.: LZ00870374
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 370.00

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    ROBERT FORTUNE: THE TEA THIEF

    By Diane Perelsztejn

    This fascinating film chronicles the role that tea played in the expansion of the British Empire as it sought to dominate trade throughout the world. It follows the audacious espionage mission of a botanist, Robert Fortune, who in the mid 18th century was entrusted by the East India Trading company to wrest the secret of tea production from Imperial China, the sole supplier of this prized beverage.

    China had been growing tea for over 5,000 years and fiercely guarded its monopoly. To satisfy Europe1s taste for the beverage, Britain had to buy tea with silver because it had no commodity the Chinese wanted to exchange for tea. But then opium came into the picture. By growing opium in India and exporting it to China the British turned a quarter of the Chinese population into addicts. When the Chinese Emperor banned the importation of opium, the infamous Opium Wars began. The British then turned their attention to tea, engaging Robert Fortune to steal the prized plants along with the secrets of how to grow it in the Himalayas.

    In Fortunes own words from his journal, the film details how this mission was accomplished. It also reveals the importance of such a commodity to the economy of three major Asian nations will interest not only students of Asian history, but tea lovers everywhere!

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended. Of interest to students of East Asian history, imperialism in Asia, and the impact of tea upon those countries involved with its production and trade. As it deals with the role of multinational companies in the international trade, the positions of food products in our lives, and other issues of current interest, it should serve well as a discussion tool." - Paul Moeller, University of Colorado at Boulder for Educational Media Reviews on Line

    Item no.: HH07000375
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    SAMURAI, THE

    By Bernard Guerrini

    In Japan, there is still a great deal of admiration for the Samurai and their rigid code of honor. Much more than their role as warriors, they represent the very roots of Japanese civilization. The Samurai offers an enthralling and colorful odyssey into Japan's history in which Samurai culture became the core of Japanese values. The film colorfully illustrates the Samurai's martial traditions and the manifestations of its ties to the Zen principles of Respect, Purity and Composure.

    Professor Kohei Irie of Tsukuba University says: "The Samurai warrior class realized that to keep power during the seven hundred years in which they prevailed, they had to add intellectual and spiritual elements to the act of war....and acquire a culture based on literature, art and religion." The film contains mesmerizing images of horseback riders in spectacular recreations of battles and in Kendo, a sport using sticks as swords. The discipline and audacious spirit of the Samurai also emerges in the art of swordmaking or "Katana," in the tea ceremony, in calligraphy and in the art of flower arrangement. The Samurai also contains clips from features such as Akiro Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai which idealizes the art of conflict and pays homage to the Samurai's self-control, their sense of strategy and their control over their opponents' minds.

    From the Edo period to the present, the martial arts have been used to shape and train model citizens. Despite the broad cultural changes in this ultra-modern and urbanized country, many people are nostalgic for the ancestral values of Honor, Truth and Virtue and try to rekindle the spirit of the ancient Samurai warrior.

    Review
  • "Recommended... goes far to explain the samurai code of honor and lifestyles as well as some of the arts and crafts on which they depended...beautiful camerawork and seamless editing..." - Sheila S. Intner, Simmons GSLIS at Mount Holyoke College, EMRO

    Item no.: SS00870377
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 370.00

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    SHANGHAI BRIDE

    By Melanie Ansley and Sam Voutas

    How does the average man find a wife in materialistic Shanghai? There are two single males to every single female and the women are increasingly picky and middle-class. The effects of the one-child policy combined with a rapid revolution in China's values and lifestyles, have created increasingly selective middle- class Shanghai women. For working class men, finding a wife is a quest that requires money, time, and the strength to withstand countless disappointments.

    Wu is an electrician, earning 1,000 yuan (U.S.$125) per month. His ex-wife left him to find a wealthier man, and he has spent a large percentage of his income on dating agencies and newspaper classifieds in the hope of finding a nice woman to marry. Aileen is one of a growing number of professional, independent Shanghai women who no longer feel the traditional pressures of marrying early. Like many others, Aileen prefers foreign boyfriends, thereby completely skipping over local men like Wu in favor of finding a mate of higher status.

    Shanghai Bride is a rare portrait of ordinary people in an extraordinary social predicament, a window on the materialistic and cut-throat nature of Shanghai's marriage market.

    Item no.: PL00870011
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 51 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    SPARROW VILLAGE

    By Sparrow Village

    In a rural village of southwestern China a bevy of young girls yearn for an education. Their parents are poor and illiterate. It is difficult for them to scrape together the money to send their daughters to school in another village. The money for tuition, books, and room and board away from home is often more than parents can spare.

    We follow several as they make the weekly three-hour trek to the local school. Among the teachers there is only one female who is an inspiration to them all. She encourages them in their studies and challenges them to progress. But we also witness the pain of one family who simply cannot pay for their daughter's schooling. She must drop out and put off her dreams for a while. The son who is less talented is favored for schooling.

    Beautifully photographed in the lush mountain greenery, these fresh faced girls hold onto their hopes of becoming teachers and doctors against great odds.

    Review
  • "This beautifully photographed film explores the natural beauty of Guizhou province and the custom of the Miao ethnic minority. Recommended for introducing the subject of education and the surrounding paradox of life's choices." - Kayo Denda and Triveni Kuchi, Rutgers University Libraries for Educational Media Reviews on Line

    Item no.: JJ07000384
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 30 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 315.00

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    STORMS OVER CHINA

    By Richard Prost and Yves Billy

    In the village of Longbaoshan, northwest of Beijing, the inhabitants are trying to prevent their village from being engulfed by dust caused by ferocious sandstorms. This ecological disaster has shocked the villagers whose crops have failed for five years. Many have abandoned their farms, moving to neighboring villages or cities after selling their livestock. The meteorologist, Hao Yan, points out that the sand moves from northwest China in increasingly thick clouds at a rate of 90,000 tons per year. Some storms are so powerful that they carry over to Korea, Japan and even California.

    As described by a scientist at the International Institute of Geo-information in the Netherlands, an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to the rise in temperature on the planet. This warming, combined with Chinese agricultural practices, few rainstorms, and violent winds have produced the increasingly intense sandstorms which lead to desertification. China emits a huge amount of greenhouse gases, second only to the U.S.

    The Chinese government is well aware of the situation which the country's unbridled industrialization has produced. They announced an enormous reforestation plan, called the Great Green Wall of China to prevent desertification. Over eight million dollars will be invested over the next few years, leading up to the Olympics.

    Item no.: JK07001147
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 325.00

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    TAIGANA: THE LAST REINDEER PEOPLE IN MONGOLIA

    By Dino de Toffol & David Bellatalla

    This fascinating film depicts the Taigana, an unusual tribe of nomads living in the mountainous Hovsgol region of Mongolia, near the Siberian border. Nomadism has deep spiritual meaning for the Taigana; their annual migration represents the cyclical nature of life to them and has profound sacred meanings. All their activities are dictated by the world of the spirits. They believe the valleys and mountains are inhabited by their forefathers and by the Supreme Divinity.

    The Taigana are entirely dependent on their reindeer. They use the sturdy animals to move along the same paths their ancestors did for hundreds of years. Each family owns ten to seventy reindeer which provide most of the diet of the Taigana. The meat is dried and preserved while the milk is used for drinking and making cheese. The skin is utilized to make clothing for the extremely cold winter.

    Unfortunately, in the mid-nineties the Mongolian government restricted theTaigana"s movements with disastrous consequences. The tribe had to remain too long in their camps. As a result, reindeer waste increased, many reindeer sickened and died and forty per cent of the tribe contracted gastroenterological illness and diseases of the joints. The tribe wrote a desperate letter to international aid organizations protesting their conditions and help was sent by International Crossroads and the Mongolian Red Cross. Their struggles continue to this day.

    Item no.: CU07060385
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 17 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 215.00

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    TO LIVE IS BETTER THAN TO DIE: AIDS IN CHINA

    Director/producer: Weijun Chen

    This is a heartbreaking story from Wenlou, a small village in central China, where 60% of the villagers are infected with HIV. There are at least 250,000 people in seven provinces in central China who were infected as a result of a blood donor program in the early nineties. Impoverished peasants sold their blood to clinics that used unsanitary gathering methods. Nevertheless, the government does not offer any help or compensation, and has supressed protests from the villagers with force.

    China"s health care system has fared poorly in the transition from socialism to capitalism. This is especially evident in the villages. The director spent months in Wenlou with farmer Ma Shengyi and his family. Ma Shengyi, his wife and two of their three children are all infected. He brings to the screen a real-life picture of an ordinary Chinese family devoured by a disease caused by official negligence and then being persecuted by the government in their struggle for help.

    Reviews
  • "Highly Recommended." - EMRO

  • "Chen is one of China's few independent documentary filmmakers...Unsurprisingly it is the kind of film that makes the Chinese authorities squirm" - Time Magazine

    Notes
  • Sundance Film Festival, 2003
  • ALA Notable Films for Adults, 2004

    Item no.: YK00870389
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 60 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 370.00

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    TRASH TRADE, THE: SELLING GARBAGE TO CHINA

    Japanese waste is turning into gold in the hands of Chinese dealers who extract valuable metal and plastic from mountains of scrap. The rubbish is carefully disassembled in China, then made into new cars and clothes that are shipped back to Japan. This international recycling system appears to kill two huge birds - China1s lack of resources and Japan1s rubbish problem - with one stone.

    But, there is a problem. Japan1s own recycling industry is running out of raw materials, and it1s on the brink of collapse. And not all Japanese trash is welcome. Discarded computers are making their way onto the black market in China, and contributing to pollution. Recycling is regarded as the keystone of sustainability - but is recycling itself sustainable?

    Review
  • "The Trash Trade is recommended for jr. high to adult audiences. It is especially recommended for use in stimulating discussion in such areas as globalization, economic imbalances among nations, recycling, business strategies, Sino-Japanese relations, Asian studies. Further, the film can serve as a primary source for research projects in those and related fields." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: VH00871104
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 49 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 295.00

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    VIETNAM SYMPHONY

    By Tom Zubrycki

    In 1965, as the Vietnam War intensified and Hanoi faced the threat of massive US bombing, students and teachers from the National Conservatory of Music were forced to flee the city for the relative safety of a small village in the countryside. With the help of villagers, they built an entire campus underground, creating a maze of hidden tunnels, connecting an auditorium and classrooms. Here, as the war raged around them, they lived, studied and played music for five years.

    Stunning black and white archival footage captures almost surreal scenes - of pianos wheeled on handcarts along dusty tracks, performances during heavy bombardments, the cooperation of peasants and performing artists - the pragmatic and the sublime. This remarkable footage is combined with contemporary interviews with the people involved, who recount stories of danger, hunger, fear and loss.

    The film juxtaposes the devastation of war with the transcendence of music. It gives American audiences a unique view from "the other side" - as we struggle to evaluate this controversial period in our history.

    Item no.: BW07061256
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 295.00

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    WELCOME TO NORTH KOREA

    By Peter Tetteroo

    This film, shot mostly covertly, shows the irony of a regime where 20 million people lived in poverty, some on the brink of starvation, while former dictator Kim II Sung built extravagant monuments to reflect his power. He fostered a grotesque personality cult, which his son and successor Kim Jong Il perpetuates. All around the capital, Pyongyang, an endless stream of propaganda glorifies the leaders. Monuments and museums pay homage to them, but they are strangely empty.

    The contrast between capitalist South Korea and the impoverished North is dramatically shown. The founder of Hyundai, Tsjoen Joe Jung is held in great esteem in the south. He believes in uniting the two Koreas and has made significant donations to economic development in the north, trying to ease the way to reunion.

    The film crew was not allowed to interview people at random. The ones "selected to speak to foreigners" gave an idealized image of the regime that was hardly credible. Footage shot secretly by a Chinese relief organization attests to a generation dying from starvation and disease, and suffering terrible human rights abuses. Welcome to North Korea captures in a vivid manner the tight grip the regime has on its people, with a power not used benevolently.

    Reviews
  • "Recommended. After viewing this technically excellent film, and acknowledging that 1,000,000 soldiers face one another on the border, one comes away understanding the danger to world peace that this clash of cultures has produced." - David W. Sewicki, Butler Library, Buffalo State College for EMRO

  • "gives students a glimpse into a country that has been virtually closed to the rest of the world." - School Library Journal

    Notes
  • Seattle International Documentary Film Festival, 2003
  • Chicago International Documentary Film Festival, 2003

    Award
  • Best Documentary, International EMMY Awards, 2001

    Item no.: FW07060396
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 315.00

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    WILD SWANS - JUNG CHANG

    Directed by Mischa Scorer

    This epic account of the lives of three generations of Chinese women captures the turbulent transformation of China in the 20th century. Author Jung Chang's grandmother was born into a still feudal society, had her feet bound, and at the age of fifteen became a warlord's concubine. Her daughter, Jung Changs's mother, became a guerrilla fighter against the Chiang Kai-shek regime and rose to high rank after the Communist Party victory. She and her husband later became victims of the Cultural Revolution. They were sent to labor camps where they endured great hardship.

    Jung Chang spent a childhood in the privileged circle of the communist elite. She briefly became a Red Guard as did most of her contemporaries. As a young student she worshiped Mao until the excesses of the revolution were brought home. After her whole family was denounced, she was exiled to the Himalayas. Leaving the country in 1958 to study in England, she never returned.

    The film recounts the family history interwoven with archival and contemporary footage. Her mother's visit in 1990 unleashed a flood of memories and revealed information that became the basis for her best-selling book, Wild Swans. In the tradition of Amy Tan, Jung Chang shows how individual lives are transformed by historical forces. This is an unforgettable film.

    Reviews
  • "Superbly done..." - Library Journal

  • "Evocatively tying all the events together Chang vividly recreates China's stormy political history." - Booklist

    Notes
  • Association for Asian Studies, 1995
  • Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, 1995

    Item no.: KY00870294
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 59 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 415.00

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    WOMEN IN CHINA

    Women in China is a timely two-part documentary on the conditions of women in today's economically -oriented Chinese society. By visiting four diverse parts of China, it provides a representative view of the opportunities and living conditions of Chinese women today.

    The first part focuses on Bejing where we meet a successful women's rock group. Although the group is not officially accepted, these emancipated women are popular among the young both there and abroad. Kang Rui, once a member of Mao's People's Army talks about life as a young female soldier during the Civil War. One of the city's most successful women is Wan Wen Ying, head of a major department store. We also observe activities at a women's crisis center, which is a new phenomenon in today's more open China.

    The second part bring us to Yenan in the middle of China. Here poverty is visible. Many of the women are illiterate and some cope with abandonment as their husband's seek their fortunes elsewhere. In Dayudao, a prosperous fishing community, women are allowed more than one child per family. In Yantai, one of the new economic zones, a female CEO is driven among her factories by a private chaffeur. Much progress has been made in the fifty years since women had their feet bound!

    Review
  • "Suitable for high school through university-level courses...well made, well organized...successfully portraying a variety of women's lives." - Asian Educational Media Service

    Item no.: AN07000398
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 110 minutes
    Copyright: 1997
    Price: USD 515.00

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    WOMEN OF THE YELLOW EARTH

    This very special film takes the viewer to the heart of rural China. Filmed in the remote Loess Plateau, it captures the quality of peasant life where people work hard on the land to survive and every extra mouth to feed puts a heavy strain on the family.

    It introduces us to two village women, Bai, who has just delivered her third child and is in trouble with the family planning officials, and Ma Ning, who is about to be married by arrangements with a matchmaker. It shows how the state intercedes in family life, with rules and penalties for non-compliance.

    Bai is ready to give her third child for adoption but, her husband cannot bring himself to do that, even though it is a girl. In any case, Bai knows that soon she will be forced to undergo sterilization. The camera follows her to the hospital where a bureaucratic female doctor ignores her distress.

    Ma Ning's life as a wife and mother is just beginning. Communist regulation has not snuffed out traditions. A geomancer is consulted for a propitious wedding date. The bride, accompanied by a band, is escorted to her husband's village with all her possessions in a wheel barrow . The celebratory meal takes many cooks to prepare. The groom must provide the couple's furnishings, which even in this remote corner of China, includes a much coveted eighteen-inch television set.

    Item no.: VV07000265
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 370.00

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    WORLD WITHOUT FATHERS OR HUSBANDS, A

    Legend has it that there was once a beautiful land in China called Li Chang, where lovers never married. They changed partners when they wanted to. But a cruel Chinese emperor changed all that and forbade these relationships. Arranged marriages became the norm and there were many lovers' suicides.

    In this fascinating documentary filmed in Mosuo Province near the Tibetan border, we learn about a matriarchal society that seems to echo many aspects of the legendary Li Chang. There are no fathers, husbands or marriages in Mosuo society. Uncles take care of their sisters' children and act as the fathers of these children. Brothers and sisters live together all their lives in their mothers' homes. The women do all the work, including physical labor and are the bread-winners in their families. They are expected to establish harmonious households. Women are usually courted by men from miles away, who come for conjugal "visits."

    This colorful film also goes on to show how change is now coming to Mosuo Province. Mosuo has only been open since 1990. The first CD player and TV set have created a "mini-revolution", with dances and parties being held. The women of the village now go to a market by bus, where they are learning to shop. And the first school opened two years ago. Change is indeed on its way; the Mosuo may lose their traditions.

    Reviews
  • "This fascinating program is recommended for all libraries." - Library Journal

  • "Happily not content to leave the viewer in the ethnographic past, these issues of contemporary culture and cultural change are examined intelligently, even as the viewer can see that the 21st century is certainly not the first time such people have come under pressure from outside societies." - Anthropology Review Database

    Item no.: DG07060266
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 370.00

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    YELLOW OX MOUNTAIN: REFLECTIONS OF TWO CHINESE ARTISTS IN NEW YORK

    By Miao Wang

    China is a country where dissenting voices have been systematically purged and propaganda efficiently woven into every aspect of life. Art has often served as a political tool, particularly during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) following Mao's direct orders. This politically turbulent atmosphere drove many contemporary Chinese artists to emigrate to New York City.

    Yellow Ox Mountain is a documentary that portrays the artistic endeavors and the personal journeys of two such artists, Zhang Hongtu (b. 1943) and Zhang Jian-Jun (b. 1955), who are part of the Chinese contemporary art community of New York. They were determined to escape from the artistic leash imposed by Chinese cultural control. Each expresses through his art his different experience of the Cultural Revolution, as well as his own personal background. Yet there is a shared sense of constant cultural negotiation as they concurrently look back to their traditions and forward to the multifaceted creative influence of New York.

    Notes
  • Reel NY series, WNET, 2007
  • Asian Cinevision International Asian American Film Festival, 2007
  • Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2006
  • San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, 2006
  • Asian Film Festival, San Diego, 2006

    Award
  • Best Short Film, Asian Film Festival, Dallas, 2006

    Item no.: YF07061160
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 225.00

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    ZHANG'S DINER

    Directed by Mika Koskinen

    An impoverished Chinese couple move to Beijing from their home town in search of a better life.They invest what little they have in a shabby diner and begin a new life. The film follows Zhang"s and Xiao"s restaurant business over a period of three years. The couple1s problems at times reach almost comical proportions. There are no customers, but they continue to make an effort.

    The couple represents a phenomenon that has become part of everyday life for tens of millions of Chinese. As China follows the global economy, it is the rural residents who used to make their living in state run cooperatives who now find themselves destitute. The large cities are full of illegal job seekers who have no basic security and are harassed by the local police, adding to their troubles.

    Nevertheless, the diner in Beijing has an essentially warm and optimistic atmosphere. The young couple carries on with their lives, through joy and worry, determined to succeed.

    Item no.: PZ07000401
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 370.00

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