ZHANG Yong
Director
In the process of contacting the Post-90s, I often lamented the strong tension of the young generation’s diversity and compatibility, and in front of their vivid and innovative force, all those so-called grand stories pale in comparison. After a lot of feelings, I focused on the main character of China-Africa narrative on this group, and thus, “Post 90s China-Africa Love Affair” was born. After more than two years of continuous filming, my feeling is that the young characters make the subject of China-Africa exchanges more energetic and grounded. In order to present this “grounded” sense of reality, I have three principles: The first is to record from the perspective of a “bystander”, as far as possible not to use narration to replace the characters to speak, and give the “right to understand” to the audience, which I have always insisted on in my previous creations, so that both Chinese and foreign viewers can feel from these real images and form their own knowledge and understanding, This is also what I have always insisted in my previous works, so that both Chinese and foreign audiences can feel and form their own understanding from these real images; Secondly, in each episode, we hope to present the beauty of African people and culture. For example, in the first episode, we filmed and released a lot of captured images of African wild cats and chickens, which are natural and poetic local customs that can bring the distance between the film and the audience and Africa and the audience closer outside the story; Finally, in the face of the story of China-Africa youth exchanges, there is a need to both shrink and enlarge. Narrowing is the “frame of view”, that is to say, to outline the group portrait of China-Africa youth exchanges with the stories of small people; zooming is every vivid, real moments, for a lot of Chinese and African youths after the 90s, some transnational and cross-cultural friendships occur inadvertently. As a documentary director focusing on the stories of China-Africa exchanges, my duty is to record the stories of these young people with images. “Youth is the soul of the nation.” I hope that the stories of these youth groups can bring more vitality and vigour to China-Africa exchanges, and let more viewers, especially young viewers, see that China-Africa exchanges do not only exist between countries, but are all around us.