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Polyphonic China - Chinese new independent documentaries<http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-569> The fourth session: Tuesday 24th March 2009, 6pm – 8:30 pm. Venue: the BOARDROOM, Regent Campus, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW Screening: Aolugoya. Aolygoya (敖鲁古雅.敖鲁古雅)( dir. Gu Tao. 2008. 90mins, with *ENGLISH subtitles)* Talk: "It's not nostalgia, it's always there" Speaker: Zhiguang Yin, Chinese studies, King's College, University of Cambridge Synopsis: There is a legendary minority in the northern China’s Da Xing An Ling-Reindeer Ewenki People, who came from Siberia which is one the north of China three hundred years ago. For generations, they live by hunting, raising reindeer and enjoy their own traditional way of life. In 2003, the Ewenki walk out the mountain and move into the habitat established by the government. In the following hunting ban, they are away from the forests and their guns, which make them desperately lonely. Some move back to the montain andresume the traditional life. Liuxia, who lost her husband, indulges herself in alcohol, for mothing belongs to her now except the Sun the sky, reindeers and her son who is far away. Her younger brother, Weijia, is a drunkard as well as an artist who loses his way, voices his sorrow through his harmonica.The chief, Maria Suo, just watches the changing world coldly. Time goes by quietly, and the reindeer ring has gradually gone. Will the forests that they are familiar to still belong to them? Yin find this work is inspiring in its narrative in that Gu Tao documents the ordinary life rather than some highly selective “special moment”. His own presence along with other alien “modern elements” involve naturally and closely with the life of those hunters. The personal in the narrative is ordinary yet symbolic. The half-drunk, half-sober WENLEKE lady and his brother who has the desire to paint his life out but always burns the work as soon as he finishes it, the artistic leader of hunters who almost lost his whole family, altogether, these people forms a modern epic. The narrator and the subject are actually inseparable while all of the participate in this lifestyle including Gu Tao share the same sorrow and happiness because of this shared experience. In this part of history, some of the imposed grand discourse, such as ethnicity, nation and modernisation are dissolved in this emotional yet ordinary narrative, while the cacophony of some other modern elements are perfectly shaped in this seemingly alien lifestyle. If you could contact me at [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>to indicate your attendance to help us keep check on numbers, it would be much appreciated. We are* *Looking forward to seeing you there! Best wishes, Tianqi Yu Ph.D candidate Research Assistant of Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media The School of Media, Arts and Design University of Westminster Watford Rd, Northwick Park Middlesex HA1 3TP Screening-seminars: Chinese new independent documentaries - UK Premiere!<http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-569>