into the white: Central Nation: A Matter of Culture

I haven’t produced my own project since I left university nearly 9 years ago. And this one that I have begun was a while coming. In the lull of the winter months in ‘the industry’ and awaiting to shoot two feature films, I wrote a short fiction and formulized initial ideas for the first of many short form documentaries regarding the development of China, which will be shot over a period of 5-10 years.

With my interest in China and the propaganda of media, when Speilberg quit his position as artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics, Hollywood actors, Nobel Peace prize winners and the majority of western media upheld their position to ask the Chinese government to use it’s possible influence to place pressure on the Sudanese government; I felt there was a need to reveal the hypocrisies of western media and whether it reflects the pubic perception in the UK. I also feel the lack of understanding of cultures between and east and west and the mentality imbedded in those cultures.

I was born and raised in London, UK and my parents are from Hong Kong. I have been back many times. I have also been to Beijing. Growing up and well into my twenties one does struggle with the identity of ones culture. Am I English or Chinese? Am I more Western or more Eastern? Do my personal values reflect that of my family’s culture or the country’s culture I grew up in? I have grown to understand that I am a culture of one yet need to respect the values and traditions of both when I am in those respective companies. I understand both sides and subsequently have knowledge of the fundamental difference in mentality of how they both function. I share the belief that people around the world should celebrate their differences rather than let them separate from one another and this is a theme that will be explored in the documentary.

I am currently in Hong Kong for some personal business and have taken the opportunity to start the project here. With the help of a few friends, I was confident that we would get enough interviews from people. Was I wrong I shit you not… The fact is, many Hong Kong people do not like being on camera. If you are about to photograph the exterior of a store using a SLR, you would probably be shoo’d off or shouted at. The outcome of this has led me to conclude that a voiceover would be apt for the Hong Kong section. As this camera shy mentality is part of the cultural mileu, it shall also become part of the documentary. The second part will be shot in London in April/May with completion planned to coincide with the start of the Beijing Olympics. I am keeping an open mind about including Taiwan and extending the documentary to include the aftermath of the Olympics. I will keep this blog posted if there is anything to air.

Most documentaries tend to take you to places you hadn’t thought of or discovered when you first began making it, and I hope this one will be no different.

Some stills from recently shot footage.