This series will feature six films from the Yunnan Multi Culture Visual Festival, or Yunfest, an independent documentary film festival in Yunnan, China.

Yunfest serves as a platform for discussion for documentary filmmakers, cultural anthropologists and community researchers from China and overseas and promotes the integration of visual media with participatory visual education and cooperation with local communities.

Yang Kun, one of the founding members of the Yunfest organizing group, will introduce each film. A discussion will follow each screening.

The series is organized jointly by the Research School of Humanities, ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, and the ANU China Institute, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific.

The films are in Chinese with English subtitles.

Qianmen is a popular neighborhood in the very heart of Beijing just south of Tiananmen Square. Due to the 2008 Olympic Games, the city decided to "rehabilitate" the 500-year-old labyrinth of small streets, home to more than 80,000 people.

The film follows this long process of transformation from one reality to another. Sequence after sequence are pieces in the portrait of a neighborhood, a story of modern China.

Yang is a drifter from Henan who sells records on the street in Guangzhou and who dreams of becoming a pop singer. As he approaches the age of 30, he realizes that he will never make it as a pop star. He spends his days running away from security guards and city inspectors and chasing off competitors in order to make a living. His love life is a mess and day by day he grows more depressed and numb. His mood, like his situation, is unstable as he floats through existence. Finally, as he turns 30, he is caught by city authorities and sent home.

Nanjing Road is a symbol of prosperity in a city dazzling with China’s surging economic growth. But in the back streets, migrants are busy scrounging in the garbage bins, through rubbish left behind by the bustling crowds, to make ends meet. Any attempt to understand this city requires consideration of their lives.

This week will feature a recent film concerning Yunnan. Please refer to mailing lists for film details or contact the institute.

An intimate portrait of the views of modern-day Chinese women, My Dear reveals the relationship problems, the inner strife, and the tension and tenderness amongst a group of businesswomen, artists and returnees from abroad. While at odds with their times, these women take pride in their womanhood and identity as 'strong' women. They choose to embrace the benefits and endure the suffering brought on by the era of transition, each in their own fashion.

This is a film about modern women and how they perceive themselves.

Set in a small town in Southeastern Yunnan where a railway had brought a few decades of commercial bustle and a sense of cosmopolitanism, only to be lost to the wider forces of history. In 1910, the French commissioned the Chinese to build a rail connection between Yunnan province and French Indochina. Soon the sleepy village of Bise (Jade) became a lively stopover.

The film observes with great subtlety the daily life along the railroad tracks. Local elders recall the glory days of the town, including memories (and rumors) of the foreigners who had formerly lived there or passed through. Others describe life under Mao-era collectivization, or disputes regarding marriage customs in changing times.

A film about history, decay, storytelling and remembering. Directed by the poet Yu Jian, the film's shooting and editing were also extensively assisted by He Yuan and Yang Kun, graduates of the East Asia Institute of Visual Anthropology in Yunnan, and it is a unique blend of ethnography and visual poetry.