Children at a Village School
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Country/Region:
China Mainland
Release Year: 2014
Release Year: 2014
Story:
2011,It’s a chilly winter,as the documentary filmmaker of Left-behind Dreams, I left Beijing,came back to the village in remote mountainous areas in Hunan Province.The children just moved to the new school building,but the situation was still terrible.Being so poor,so far away from parents,never get equal opportunities for education. 2009,a shining spring,the villagers had been applying for the reconstruction of the village school since forever.Finally,they struggle to victory,get the permission. 2010,the new school was built in the autumn.But they can’t recruit enough teachers,they can’t afford it.And the old suffering teacher,can hardly make a living by this job.As the children’s daily guardians, their aged grandparents or teenager brothers can barely take care of themselves.No one told these children how to behave properly, to be a decent boy or girl.It hurts,when you wandering how they would spoil themselves,throw away all the books,how they would get along with their inner selves. Then the precious teacher got transferred to another place.The whole school was nearly corrupting. And the three spilling-up families we had been shooting for the last three years,were facing some heart breaking moments. The summer of 2012,thanks to the help of social media,the children got some sweet presents.But they were still left behind,they need love,they need education,they need attention.But there are few. The spring festival of 2013,will their parents come back to them?
2011,It’s a chilly winter,as the documentary filmmaker of Left-behind Dreams, I left Beijing,came back to the village in remote mountainous areas in Hunan Province.The children just moved to the new school building,but the situation was still terrible.Being so poor,so far away from parents,never get equal opportunities for education. 2009,a shining spring,the villagers had been applying for the reconstruction of the village school since forever.Finally,they struggle to victory,get the permission. 2010,the new school was built in the autumn.But they can’t recruit enough teachers,they can’t afford it.And the old suffering teacher,can hardly make a living by this job.As the children’s daily guardians, their aged grandparents or teenager brothers can barely take care of themselves.No one told these children how to behave properly, to be a decent boy or girl.It hurts,when you wandering how they would spoil themselves,throw away all the books,how they would get along with their inner selves. Then the precious teacher got transferred to another place.The whole school was nearly corrupting. And the three spilling-up families we had been shooting for the last three years,were facing some heart breaking moments. The summer of 2012,thanks to the help of social media,the children got some sweet presents.But they were still left behind,they need love,they need education,they need attention.But there are few. The spring festival of 2013,will their parents come back to them?
Casts & Crews:
Jiang Nengjie
Directors
Runtime:
95
minutes
Subtitles:
Chinese, English
Festivals & Awards:
Frankfurt Film Festival, Chine in Motion - First Prize, Phoenix Video Documentary Award - Best Documentary Feature
Frankfurt Film Festival, Chine in Motion - First Prize, Phoenix Video Documentary Award - Best Documentary Feature
Director‘s Statement:
This is the sequel of my first movie The Road. In fact, I began the film editing as early as late 2011.But, due to the equipment issues and some personal stuff, the editing was stuck. Then I was forced to drop it. I came back to the village, spent a lot of time shooting their daily lives and did some film editing during my spare time. Because I’m so concerned with the children’s situation and I can’t just let it go, I went back to the village again and again.
Of course, from the very beginning, I kept thinking and asking myself why I bothered sacrifice everything in my life for this video. What’s the point? What can I possibly change? I’m afraid the answer is Nothing.
As more people saw the documentary The Road online and offline, and thanks to the reports of some kindly media, for the children, there were some material improvements indeed. But nothing can make up to the absence of their parents. There were still so many tough moments to face, so many hard questions to conquer, even harder. When asking the children about their dreams ,one would probably get the same old answer, working.
Later on, I got some financial support from various websites. And I nearly finished the film editing at the April of 2013.Then I just let it lying there. I could not tell the exact reason why I did not dare to touch it .
I went to Guangzhou for my Left-behind Old Men show in June, 2013 and ran into a tutor from Guangzhou Academy of Arts. He encouraged and introduced me to the Frankfurt Film Festival. Also I’m much honored to get the chance to join in. This may be my first release aboard.
To cooperate with the broadcasting, I picked up the movie I had dropped for more than six months. When I was editing the trailer, it makes me fell different. Again, I regained my confidence and my original expectations. I want more people to know what’s going on with left-behind children, to pay some attention and to share some love.
I finished filming the final version of the documentary in Feb. 2014. After continuous six year’s filming (2009-2014), I want to make a exhibition tour around the country with the purpose to attract attention to the situation of left-behind children. Therefore, from the end of 2013 on, I have making preparation for the exhibition which would be held in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing and other major cities during Mar. to May, 2014. Sincerely do I hope that the exhibition could call for more people to pay attention to 61 million left-behind children all over China and show their kindness to them.
Of course, from the very beginning, I kept thinking and asking myself why I bothered sacrifice everything in my life for this video. What’s the point? What can I possibly change? I’m afraid the answer is Nothing.
As more people saw the documentary The Road online and offline, and thanks to the reports of some kindly media, for the children, there were some material improvements indeed. But nothing can make up to the absence of their parents. There were still so many tough moments to face, so many hard questions to conquer, even harder. When asking the children about their dreams ,one would probably get the same old answer, working.
Later on, I got some financial support from various websites. And I nearly finished the film editing at the April of 2013.Then I just let it lying there. I could not tell the exact reason why I did not dare to touch it .
I went to Guangzhou for my Left-behind Old Men show in June, 2013 and ran into a tutor from Guangzhou Academy of Arts. He encouraged and introduced me to the Frankfurt Film Festival. Also I’m much honored to get the chance to join in. This may be my first release aboard.
To cooperate with the broadcasting, I picked up the movie I had dropped for more than six months. When I was editing the trailer, it makes me fell different. Again, I regained my confidence and my original expectations. I want more people to know what’s going on with left-behind children, to pay some attention and to share some love.
I finished filming the final version of the documentary in Feb. 2014. After continuous six year’s filming (2009-2014), I want to make a exhibition tour around the country with the purpose to attract attention to the situation of left-behind children. Therefore, from the end of 2013 on, I have making preparation for the exhibition which would be held in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing and other major cities during Mar. to May, 2014. Sincerely do I hope that the exhibition could call for more people to pay attention to 61 million left-behind children all over China and show their kindness to them.
Casts & Crews
Jiang Nengjie
Director
