Indie China

Bringing Chinese film to the world stage has long been one of the missions of China's movie-makers. While the Golden Globes didn't award The Flowers of War with best foreign language film, domestic film buffs can take heart knowing that the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has devoted a whole program to Chinese independent films. As the theme of this program, Hidden Histories, focuses on the unknown side of Chinese society, its entrants depict material that is not a focus in other Chinese films.

Zhang Yaxuan, who planned the first China Independent Film Festival, told the Global Times that international film festivals are one of the only avenues available for independent films to receive wide exposure. Through events like this, more and more independent Chinese directors seek out international audiences.

The IFFR, which began January 25 and will run until next Monday, is one of many film festivals that celebrate independent, innovative, and experimental cinema, video and media rather than industry blockbusters. The annual Tiger Award Competition is usually the focus of the festival, but this year a special film program named "Signals: Hidden Histories" is expected to be one of the highlights.

The program includes 20 Chinese films that focus on hidden aspects of Chinese society that are often overlooked in mainstream film. In addition to some unknown Chinese filmmakers, the lineup features work by controversial artist Ai Weiwei.

Portraying the whole

Gerwin Tamsma, who is responsible for Rotterdam's feature films from China, Korea, Latin America and parts of Europe, said he and his colleague Gertjan Zuilhof chose the films for "Hidden Histories."

Tamsma thinks a program that focuses on Chinese films is necessary, because "China is undergoing rapid change right now. People are very interested in knowing what is happening there." He added that Western audiences usually do not see the whole China in mainstream TV shows and films, and even when they travel to China, few of them get to see the lives of the people in the remote countryside.

While these films focus on the unknown side of Chinese society, Tamsma thinks audiences will see them in the context of what they already know about China. "[Westerners] will not walk away thinking life is like this everywhere in China," he commented.

The stories they tell

Some of the Chinese directors whose films are featured in the "Hidden Histories" program feel their work highlights the dark side of humanity.

"Things like coldness are universal to all human beings," said Sun Weiwei, a young experimental filmmaker and contemporary artist who goes by the name Tan Tan in her career.