Chinese documentaries shake off propaganda nature

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-19 20:41

SHANGHAI: She was every schoolboy's dream, but instead of following her passion to become a teacher, she was sold by her father and stepmother into an unhappy marriage that was to last for 65 years.

Now at 82, she rummages through the debris of her home, which was destroyed in last year's devastating earthquake, for memories of her younger days and of the man she never loved, but to whom she bore five daughters and a son.

The heroine in director Shu Chongfu's documentary, "Home," is only referred to as Mrs. Liu. It has been screened on Shanghai Television and BBC and won the Asian documentary gold award at the ongoing 15th Shanghai TV Festival (STVF).

Chinese viewers were deeply touched by the documentary, Shu said Friday. "Some wrote me letters asking me to shoot Home 2."

Before "Home," Shu was famous for the TV series, "The Long March."

French producer Michel Noll, leader on the STVF jury panel, admitted he, too, was "impressed" by a list of six Chinese documentaries recommended to the event. They presented a real China, he said.

Documentaries in China used to be synonymous with "propaganda films" that were designed to inspire the audience. Such films were almost always based on the life stories of heroes either alive or dead, but were almost always far too exaggerated to convince the audience.

Except for a documentary about Beijing's past and present and one about the Olympics, most Chinese nominees at this year's event are human interest stories.

These also include "The Story of Francois' Monkey," which tells the touching story of a family in the remote mountains of southwestern China and a group of critically endangered monkeys; "My Last Secret", a story that evolves around the hefty legacy of a 90-year-old woman, and the real-life story of a Robin Hood who readily helps others, but often gets himself into trouble by taking and trading drugs.

Chinese director Jin Tiemu also brought his latest production, "Master Xuanzang," to the festival. The documentary about the renowned Buddhist monk will be screened in two months.

"Every Chinese knows Xuanzang's pilgrimage to the West and is therefore interested in the culture of the Tang Dynasty more than 1,300 years ago," Jin said Friday.

Jin is known for "Yuan Ming Yuan," a 2006 production about the old Summer Palace of Beijing, which was burnt by British and French troops in 1860.

"Both documentaries feature computer-generated imaging, or CGI, technologies to recreate scenes of the past and both involve a 200-strong team," he said.

Documentaries are increasingly popular with Chinese audiences, he said.

In 2002, only Shanghai TV and the China Central Television had documentary channels. Today, most provincial stations are screening documentaries. Some are even producing their own.

"Our documentary channel reports an average audience rating of more than 2 percent in mornings and afternoons," said Sheng Boji, deputy editor-in-chief of Hunan Provincial Broadcasting and Film Group, "better than most other provincial TV channels."

Ratings for documentaries are climbing in major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, said Ying Qiming, director of the documentary channel of Shanghai Media Group (SMG). "There's still vast market potential."

A survey published during the STVF showed documentaries were the third most popular programs for Shanghai's university students, second only to blockbusters and VIP interviews.

But high production costs and comparatively low selling prices have hindered the development of Chinese documentaries, said director Peng Xiaolian. "Very often, documentary production won't make a fortune as some blockbusters do."

Last year, China produced 3,000 documentaries, "too few for the country's 2,200 TV channels," said Peng.

Australian producer Peter Du Cane said the international market is keen on documentaries that give an accurate account of Chinese history and social life. "We may buy some and put them into our clips."

Yet he warned Chinese producers should not make copycat versions of Western documentaries. "They should be all about China," he said.