Yunfest Tourshow in Shanghai
International Documentary Film Screening
1 - 7 October 2007
The Yunnan Multi-Cultural Visual Festival (Yunfest) was created in 2003 as a project of the BAMA Mountain Culture Research Institute, an NGO linked to the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences. The first edition was held that same year in Kunming and became an instant success. This bi-annual event wants to offer a platform where the visual arts can be represented and where young directors, cultural anthropologists and filmmakers get a chance to exchange ideas and information. It mainly shows non-fiction documentaries that focus on the diversity of human cultures and their living environment and it aims to represent as many different viewpoints as possible.
Yunnan province is known for its ethnical, cultural and environmental diversity. The BAMA Institute aims to preserve the lifestyle and culture of the differerent indigenous groups who live in Yunnan Province. By working with and in different local communities young filmakers not only want to share the uniqueness of those indigenous cultures with the outside world, they also want to show how these old cultures react and cope in today's rapidly changing world. Through their films they want to create an awareness and ask for a deeper understanding for those groups of people who are living an old life in a modern world. These people are often overlooked or talked about in stereotypes. By showing these documentaries filmmakers want to give modern China a chance to have another look at some of its own people. Although these old cultures have been able to stand ground for centuries, in current society foreign influences can no longer be ignored or excluded. Documenting the effects of world-wide changes that are taking place in these uniques cultures, and showing them to a broad public will hopefully stimulate interest and understanding.
People participating in this festival share a strong passion for documentary film and the message it represents. By showing documentaries the organisers want to draw people's attention to the various efforts that are being made to preserve indigenous cultures. By organising this festival they want to create a time and place where there can be room for dialogue, interaction and cooperation.
This October Yunfest will come to Shanghai for the very first time. Daily showings will take place at the Zendai Museum of Modern Art, starting on October 2 nd . The festival will consist of different parts, there will be a competition and an educational section for the public. In entertainment-spoiled Shanghai, people will have a chance to see something truly different, a visual experience they haven't seen before, presented in an original way and created by talented artists. |
