Guanzhou

PRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT

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I first met the people of the Guanzhou village, a little river island in the south of China, in 2007 when their village was going to be torn down. The authorities claimed that they were going to build an international ecological park in its place, but instead a huge urban project was constructed. The inhabitants were relocated to a tower block built opposite their island. Only a handful of diehards refused to leave their village, now in ruins.

Touched by the powerful link that the village people had with their land, I decided to film, from 2011 to 2017, their living conditions, their testimonies and their fight. Being the only person who came to hear how they were getting on, a bond was created between us.

Every year millions of farmers are expropriated and forced to “install in the block”, as the Chinese expression says, but these events are quashed and very rarely documented. Combining my history with the inhabitants, whilst showing the human, social and political dimensions of their situation, “Guanzhou” is a documentary film about one little village among so many others in immense China, which in wanting to modernise has erased a part of its history.

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CONTEXT

Local authorities attract financial investments on agricultural land in order to speculate for their own benefits. Expropriations and dispossessions are common. The village people have no choice but to accept the status as townspeople and lose the enjoyment of their agricultural land. And so, between 1985 and 2012, China created 500 million new townspeople, half of which was through the urbanisation of their countryside, not a rural exodus.

The village of Guanzhou, situated in the south of China on a river island, close to the town of Guanzhou, didn’t escape this technique. Only accessible by boat before, the village went about its business until 2000, the year when the authorities decided to transform the island into an “International Ecological Park”. As early as 2004 a tunnel and a metro line arrived on the island. In 2008 the village was torn down and the inhabitants relocated to an apartment block on the opposite shore of the river.

But this transition in status from farmer to that of townsperson encountered problems, and certain people categorically refused it. Today a handful of diehards, deeply attached to their land, continue to live among the ruins of the village. Their fight, which at one point seemed without hope, has continued for more than a decade. In the background the new buildings spring up on the old agricultural land of the village. In the middle of the ruins and in the noise of the workshops, a fight has been established, between resistance and resignation.

In a country where the benchmarks have constantly been changing since the Cultural Revolution, their fight is seen as regressive. The authorities play on this in order to discredit and divide the village people between the good (those who have signed) and the bad (those who refuse). The latter are victims of retaliation and sometimes even violence. But they defy the local authorities who control their everyday life and systematically stop people who are trying to press charges. The authorities also try to dissuade the village people to talk to me, but they respond by saying that I had already come to the village before it was destroyed and that I am a friend. It is thanks to them that over the years the film has been weaved together.

The fight of the inhabitants of Guanzhou is not just about a violent opposition to corrupted power. It illustrates a question deeply rooted in Chinese society : preserve traditional heritage, or sacrifice everything in the name of modernising the country ?

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GUANZHOU - THE FILM

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Through this film, I want to show, from the perspective of a local story, how millions of country people become urbanised every year in China.

Photographing this forced urbanisation in China since the beginning of the 2000s, I found myself in Guanzhou for the first time in 2007. During my first visit the village was not yet destroyed. At the end of 2008 the first requisitions of agricultural land were completed and the destruction started. The following year I went back to see them. I had felt it necessary to change my film camera for a digital camera, in order to mark this transition between the two worlds, rural and urban. But also to keep a record of the oral and visual testimonies that I encountered.

This documentary wants to capture this moment of transition, to film the breakdown of a rural society, before the last traces are forgotten forever. Facing a progressive and unequivocal discourse, the last remaining inhabitants of Guanzhou cling onto the remnants of the village, traditions and festivities.

But Guanzhou,the film, is not just a story about their fight: it’s also the story of our personal relationship in the making. Certain characters have become friends, others didn’t want to be filmed, others came to speak to me during my last few days in the village. But all of them, with gratitude, said to me that I am the only person who has come to hear how they’re getting on.

During each visit, the village people give me images and film they have taken on their phones of the destruction of their homes, the protests, the complaint letters and the self-righteous responses from the authorities. Year after year, I accumulate my sources, thus becoming an archivist of the village. These images and documents will help me to show the evolution of the island and the trajectory of the protagonists.

I hope, thanks to your help, to assemble the necessary means to create a film which gives a human face to the disproportionate disappearance of part of Chinese countryside. Like Bingcheng says, the main character in the film: “Guanzhou is not all of China, but everywhere in China, it’s like in Guanzhou”.

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.Caption of bottom left image : "Relocate joyfully and peacefully". Billboard put up by authorities before the destruction of the village in 2008.

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WHY THE NEED FOR FINANCIAL HELP

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I filmed alone for three years, then the production companies Macalube Films and Prima Luce joined me. We found funding from French institutions (CNC, from the PACA locality, from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine locality, from Procirep and Angoa, the French Institute, from Scam, and Cnrs Images) and the film is coproduced by the French TV channel Vosges TV.

These precious supports were crucial in order to go about the filming. The richness and variety of material filmed requires an intense amount of editing. Indeed, over ten years I have accumulated near to 200 hours of film, of which 30 hours of village archives, thousands of photos and hundreds of complaint letters and administrative documents. To arrive at a definitive final version of the film, in the optimal conditions, we therefore need an additional €15,000.

Around 70% of this amount will cover the wages of the image and sound editors and the post-production technicians (colour retouches, sound mixing), vital expenses for the film to exist.

The rest of the donations will be used in the diffusion of the film: the translation of the film into several languages, registration in international festivals, press contacts, the creation of a quality DVD with bonuses, organisation of several premiers.

And if the donations exceed this amount, we will publish a book of photography.

Thanks to your support, we hope to assemble all the necessary means to finish this tale, the result of ten years of filming. All participation on your part, even minimal, will contribute to an engaged film that brings the justice and dignity that these inhabitants deserve after years of entrusting me with their story.

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HOW TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT ?

1. Click on Soutenir" (which means "Support the project").

2. Click on "Je ne souhaite pas défiscaliser" (the other options are reserved to French citizens for tax refund).

3. Click on "Entrez votre montant" ("Enter your amount").

or Click on "Je choisis ma contrepartie" ("I chose my reward in exchange").

4. If you want to remain anonymous: go down in the page to the section "Souhaitez-vous rester anonyme" ("Do you want to be anonymous?") and slide the button from "Non" (No) to "Oui" (Yes).

5. Click on "Etape suivante" (Next Step).

6. Enter your email adress in the section "Créez votre compte" (Create your account), click in the box "J'accepte les termes les conditions générales" ("I agree with the terms and conditions").

6. "Carte de crédit " means "Credit card". You can click on "Je valide et je paiement" (I valid and pay)

7. In the section "Information requises pour bénéficier d'une contrepartie" ("Required information to get your compensation"), fill the form: "Prénom" ("Name") / "Nom" ("Surname") / "Adresse postale" ("Direction") and then click on "Mettre à jour" ("Update").

8. Click on "Je valide et je passe au paiement" ("I validate and proceed to payment").

9. Chose your payment option in the section "Choisissez votre mode de paiement" ("Chose your paiement option").

10. Fill in your credit card details:

- "Numéro de carte" ("Credit card number");

- Date of validity: "Mois" ("Month") and "Année" ("year")

- "Cryptogramme visuel de la carte" ("Three number's on the back of the card").

11. Click on "Valider" ("Validate")