Over the past century, many personal stories of Chinese families have been buried by "national memories" that erase the specificity and intensity of individual family experiences. To encourage students at City University of Hong Kong to explore the depth and diversity of their family's history through documentary making, Yuhong Li launched an oral history documentary project, "Family Album." Students have completed around 100 short films during the past five years and, as a result, gained unexpected insights into the lives of their family members.
At this program, audience members will have the opportunity to view four of these short films and discuss the project with filmmaker, Yuhong Li. Descriptions of the four films can be found below.
Sisters
Two sisters were separated at a very young age in 1949 when their father went to Kuomintang’s Taiwan with the older sister and left the younger sister with her mother in the Communist China. The two sisters had a very different life ever since then.
Varnish
In 2016, personal live-streaming has aroused public concern in China. Millions of young people make profits over live-streaming app through showing their good appearance and talents. Nan Gong, a 23-year old popular anchorwoman on Tencent Live, can earn 30,000 to 40,000 RMB (around 5,000 US $) monthly on this platform. However, her life is not as beautiful as it seems.
Has Man a Future
Mr. He, a 50-year-old high school teacher in Guangzhou, China, was an active participant during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when he was a student of Peking University. He embarked on a journey back to Beijing with his daughter, to tell a hidden story from 30 years ago.
Durian
It’s a story about Xinzhu, a 23-year old MA student, and her father, a successful businessman from Harbin. The father wants to provide a better life that he thinks will be good for his daughter, however, his daughter doesn't agree.
