The War of Love

A film by Chinese documentary director Yue Jiang.

Jiang Yue and cinematographer Bi Jianfeng set out to capture a Lama Tibetan Opera group. They did not have much knowledge about filming documentaries at the time. Jiang Yue wanted to artificially construct the scene, but this idea was quickly dispelled by the director of the Tibetan Opera group, Yixi Jiacuo, who insisted that there must be audiences in order for the players to perform on camera. By the end of the show, the audience was touched, as was Jiang, who said that he realized that there was a different energy to his film because of the audience's presence.

One of three documentary films made by Jiang Yue in Tibet, during his trips in 1991 and 1992. The film presents the only existing Catholic Church in Yanjing, and the history of the church -- the six priests from European countries who came to Yanjing between 1857 and 1950.

This film shows the story of a young couple who meet and marry while working on the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River — with a backdrop of the daily life of the ten thousand(!) other workers. This film covers the time span until the work of checking the dam is completed in November, 1997. The young couple are standing at a difficult cross-road. While he has lost his job; she is about to give birth to their child. No one knows what will befall the young couple, but the film succeeds in making us feel invested in their hopes for the best, in their future happiness.

A Wen Pulin and Jiang Yue co-directed documentary about Tibet.

Young students from across the country are invited to Beijing to perform a play written by future Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian. The film documents their feverishly intense rehearsals, the phenomenal public reception of their performances, and their desperate attempts to sustain their euphoria and pursue artistic careers in Beijing.

Independent documentary about Tibetan opera

On the Tomb Sweeping Day, in 1987, a film crew set out for the monument of the Tangshan earthquake to shoot a memorial ceremony for the victims of the earthquake. This marked the beginning of the documentary film "The Great Earthquake." The artists, like Shaman sorcerers, were capable of foreseeing that, what had been dormant in the universe was to be awoken. And the rock and roll music on the Great Wall that night became a coming-of-age ceremony for the youths that were present and some even called it the "Chinese Woodstock."

A film by Chinese documentary director Jinchuan Duan.

A documentary film by Duan Jinchuan.

The documentary interviews people from the village that are the setting of a popular socialist novel about China revolution and addresses issues of private memory and official propaganda.

A film by Chinese documentary director Jinchuan Duan.

Qingpu is a famous sacred mountain in Tibet, where countless monks have practiced for thousands of years. In 1989, Wen Pulin and Duan Jinchuan followed several monks up the mountain and took video of them. After three years, we revisited the same trail and got a little closer to understanding their lives. As an in-depth dialogue with down to earth rural people, the film seems to understand Buddhism as a philosophy, but also a personal choice of lifestyle, a transcendence of the chaotic life.

The film documents a day in the life of Tiananmen Square in 1994, a mere five years after the crushing of a student-led democracy movement in 1989.

Documentary film by Duan Jinchuan

An early film from Duan Jinchuan about Tibet.

Early documentary short film by director Duan Jinchuan. It is considered by the filmmaker to be lost.

Early short documentary film by Duan Jinchuan. It is considered by the filmmaker to be lost.