I Am Zhuang
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Release Year:
2020
Story:
Beixnuengx means compatriot in the Zhuang language. I was born and raised in the city. Although I am Zhuang (China’s ethnic group), am I Beixnuengx? I want to find my identity. So I started with Zhuang folk songs. I set off from Nanning to Wuming, Baise, and then to Mashan, my hometown that I have never been to. I met people singing songs in WeChat groups; I joined the Zhuang song festival at the entrance of the village, I visited 100-year-olds who still make Zhuang brocade... What are the stories of those singing folk songs? What Beixnuengx culture is revealed in folk songs? Along the way, I slowly uncovered the much advertised Zhuang culture and saw her in the most original form. In the end, how did I answer my initial question?
Beixnuengx means compatriot in the Zhuang language. I was born and raised in the city. Although I am Zhuang (China’s ethnic group), am I Beixnuengx? I want to find my identity. So I started with Zhuang folk songs. I set off from Nanning to Wuming, Baise, and then to Mashan, my hometown that I have never been to. I met people singing songs in WeChat groups; I joined the Zhuang song festival at the entrance of the village, I visited 100-year-olds who still make Zhuang brocade... What are the stories of those singing folk songs? What Beixnuengx culture is revealed in folk songs? Along the way, I slowly uncovered the much advertised Zhuang culture and saw her in the most original form. In the end, how did I answer my initial question?
Casts & Crews:
Huang Dou
Directors
Runtime:
40
minutes
Language:
Reference:
2020 Guangxi Ethnographic Film Festival Outstanding Film Award
2020 Guangxi Ethnographic Film Festival Outstanding Film Award
Director‘s Statement:
I am a Zhuang who has lived in the city since I was a child, and I lack the national characteristics of the Zhuang. Because of the desire to understand my national identity, I have the idea to shoot this film. This documentary uses my (urban Zhuang young people) perspective and uses folk songs as a carrier to show the Zhuang culture by visiting different people and groups who sing folk songs.
The documentary is divided into two narrative lines, an open line, and a dark line. The open line is the process of visiting. Through the entrance of folk songs, they can understand their life state, life story, and attitude towards things. Through individual Zhuang people's stories, to roughly reflect the overall cultural characteristics of the Zhuang people. The dark line is the change to myself and the culture of the Zhuang nationality in the process of understanding the story of the Zhuang compatriots. I hope that this film will document the culture of the Zhuang ethnic group and arouse people's thinking about the cultural identity of ethnic minority youths.
The documentary is divided into two narrative lines, an open line, and a dark line. The open line is the process of visiting. Through the entrance of folk songs, they can understand their life state, life story, and attitude towards things. Through individual Zhuang people's stories, to roughly reflect the overall cultural characteristics of the Zhuang people. The dark line is the change to myself and the culture of the Zhuang nationality in the process of understanding the story of the Zhuang compatriots. I hope that this film will document the culture of the Zhuang ethnic group and arouse people's thinking about the cultural identity of ethnic minority youths.
Casts & Crews
Huang Dou
Director
