PRESS RELEASE

Contact:
Joanna Topor MacKenzie
Associate Director, CIDF
joanna.topor@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicago International Documentary Festival Announces Chinese Documentary
Sidebar: China: The New Old Empire From In And Out

Chicago, IL – The Chicago International Documentary Festival (CIDF) announced its Chinese Documentary sidebar titled China: The New Old-Empire From In And Out. Featuring an eclectic list of films about China by both Chinese filmmakers and international film artists, the program will be headlined by the 2006 Oscar Award Winning Documentary about the AIDS crisis currently affecting China, The Blood Of Yingzhou District by Ruby Yang. The program also includes the North American Premiere of Return To The Border by Zhao Liang, which chronicles the tension and similarity between people living on the border of China and North Korea and which is also part of the Short Grand Prix competition. Other films included in the program are: Senior Year by Zhou Hao, an insightful look at Chinese boarding school students preparing for their final exams; Second Spring by Christine Choy, a funny and fascinating look at the lives of a select group of Shanghai retirees who use their time to learn, be happy and achieve and The Zhang Empress by Christina Hoglund tells the story of four vivacious pre-teens, adopted as babies by Swedish parents, as they visit China, the land of their birth, after ten years. The Tea Film by the award-winning filmmaker Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht, shown as a work in progress, depicts the efforts of world-renowned American tea importer who often travels on foot to the most remote regions of China in search of the finest handmade tea.
In the Donatello Award winning, The Wise Cat Catches Mice by Francesco Conversano & Nene Grignaffini, audiences are taken away from the bustling urban images that have dominated the news of late and are instead shown over-looked rural villages brimming with peasants who try to seek out a living from the land. As part of the Reflecting History program, The Nanjing Massacre: Memory And Oblivion by Michael Prazan attempts to shed light on the massacre of over 300,000 men, women and children during WWII and They Chose China by Shuibo Wang follows the lives of 21 American soldiers who decide defiantly to speak out against McCarthyism and to stay in China after the end of the Korean War.
CIDF is excited to announce that filmmakers Les Blank, Zhou Hao and producer of Second Spring Julia Zhu will be present for screenings during the festival. Other directors are also available for interviews. A full list of film synopses is included in this release and screeners are available. Please contact Joanna Topor MacKenzie to schedule an interview or to request a screener.

List of the films with their screening dates:

THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
dir. Ruby Yang, CHINA/USA, 2006, 39 min., Chinese, English

Follow Gao Jun, an HIV infected orphan, as he searches for a home in a community that has ostracized him. The Academy Award for the Best Short Documentary!

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 AT 6:45 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
MONDAY, APRIL 2 AT 6:00 PM./THE WILMETTE THEATRE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 5:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE
FRIDAY, APRIL 6 AT 9:00 PM./DOC FILMS

RETURN TO THE BORDER
dir. Zhao Liang, France, 56 min., 2005, French, Chinese

Drawing on first-hand experience, from his boyhood in Communist China to his visit to North Korea, filmmaker Zhao Liang explores the reality of living with communist and socialist ideals, past and present.

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 AT 6:45 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
MONDAY, APRIL 2 AT 6:00 PM./THE WILMETTE THEATRE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 5:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

SENIOR YEAR
dir. Zhou Hao, China, 2006, 95 min., Chinese

For Chinese boarding school students preparing for the college entrance exams, failure is not an option. Their tuition is paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of their parents and the pressure to succeed can be stifling.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 9:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
SATURDAY, APRIL 7 AT 1:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

SECOND SPRING
dir. Christine Choy, China, 2006, 60 min., Chinese

Academy Award nominated filmmaker Christine Choy’s latest film offers a fascinating and funny look at the lives of a busy group of Shanghai retirees.
SUNDAY, APRIL 8 AT 3:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

THE ZHANG EMPRESSES
dir. Christina Hoglund, Sweden, 2006, 46 min., Swedish, Chinese

Four vivacious pre-teens, adopted as babies by Swedish parents, visit China, the land of their birth, and undergo a profound exploration of identity and what it means to them.
SUNDAY, APRIL 1 AT 2:00 PM./THE WILMETTE THEATRE
SATURDAY, APRIL 7 AT 1:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE

THE TEA FILM (work in progress)
dir. Les Blank, Gina Leibrecht, USA, 2006, 65 min., English, Chinese

When there aren’t any roads world-renowned American tea importer, David Lee Hoffman, will travel on foot to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the finest handmade teas in the world. Although he wants to put Chinese teas on the global market, he is also a champion of their uniqueness, tradition and production methods.

SUNDAY, APRIL 1 AT 3:30 PM./GALLERY THEATRE

THE WISE CAT CATCHES MICE
dir. Francesco Conversano & Nene Grignaffini, Italy, 2006, 85 min., Chinese

Take a journey off-the-beaten-path, through a lush Chinese countryside that can barely provide for its impoverished inhabitants.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3 AT 5:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
SUNDAY, APRIL 8 AT 1:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

THE NANJING MASSACRE: MEMORY AND OBLIVION
dir. Michael Prazan, France, 2006, 52 min., Chinese, French

This engrossing doc recreates the atrocities of the 1937 Nanking Massacre through survivor testimony, archive materials and historical evidence.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 1:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
SUNDAY, APRIL 8 AT 7:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

THEY CHOSE CHINA
dir. Shuibo Wang, USA, 2005, 52 min., English

In January 1954 21 American soldiers who fought in the Korean War decided to cut ties with the US and make their home in China. Were they driven away by McCarthyism or were they the victims of communist indoctrination?

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 1:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE
SUNDAY, APRIL 8 AT 7:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

ON A TIGHTROPE
dir. Petr Lom, Norway/Canada, 2006, 58 min., Uighur

This warm and layered documentary follows a group of Uighur orphans, an ostracized Muslim minority in China, as they struggle to learn the ancient tradition of tightrope walking.

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 AT 3:00 PM./FACET CINEMATHEQUE
MONDAY, APRIL 2 AT 3:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE
TUESDAY, APRIL 3 AT 5:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE