In April 14-15 2011, Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program lead the first ever Institute workshop for independent Chinese documentary filmmakers. Co-hosted with CNEX, a five-year-old Beijing-based foundation dedicated to support artistic documentaries about contemporary Chinese lives, this workshop brought together 11 projects from the film directors come from different regions in China, to work with a group of international Advisors , and work together on the story and structure of their documentary films.
There were more than 120 Chinese filmmakers applied for this workshop, which was supported by a special grant for the Open Society Foundations and designed by Documentary Film Program Director Cara Mertes, Ben Tsiang and Ruby Chen of CNEX, and Chinese filmmaker Lixin Fan, to best address the needs of these filmmakers in a three-day forum.
Inside the CNEX Salon, which sits in one of the newly developed ‘art districts,’ three intensive days of presentation, discussion, and feedback revolved around the 11 projects and their aspirations for their films, focusing on developing a strategy for next steps. Award-winning filmmakers Arthur Dong, Stanley Nelson, and Lixin Fan joined Sundance Institute staffers Win-Sie Tow and Meredith Lavitt, along with myself, in providing specific feedback to the filmmakers about their projects. Between 50 and 100 people attended sessions, mixing observers with the invited filmmakers. CNEX staff was heroic in providing technical support, wonderful meals, and an atmosphere of openness, community, and camaraderie.
Consultants
- Cara Mertes (Documentary Film Program Director, Sundance Institute)
- Stanley Nelson (Documentary Film Program, Sundance Institute)
- Arthur Dong (Award-winning filmmaker)
- Lixin Fan (Film Director of Last Train Home)
