Art Attack: Rural Doctor Helps the Blind, Stan Lee’s Chinese Superhero, Ethnic Minority Culture Preserved and More

Sensational headlines scream from China every day, but this week, we’ve got two films illuminating its less glamorous stories: villagers in need of healthcare and a doctor willing to risk much to provide it, and a disappearing ethnic minority culture in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake. Also, we’ve got Stan Lee’s Chinese superhero project, the launch of limited-edition art retailers Paper Terrestrials and a folk musical about a Chinese-Canadian in the last seconds of his life on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

As people flee the countryside in search of better jobs, salaries and standards of living in the city, one doctor trained in ophthalmology is doing the opposite: after training in the city, he turned back to help his poverty-stricken community in Ningxia. Restoring the Light is the first feature film by director Carol Liu, who trained at New York University’s Tisch school.

Tsingying Film will be hosting a free beta screening at the Wenjin Hotel this Saturday, and here’s Carol to tell us some more about the project, Dr. Zhang and how we can pitch in:

What are some of the specific challenges that Dr. Zhang and his rural neighbors come across living in rural Ningxia?
It is sometimes hard for the audience to realize the challenges posed by the infrastructure of the region. For example, to get to a major hospital, patients in the south of Ningxia have to pay a hefty fee to ride the bus for 6.5 to 7 hours to reach the capital, Yinchuan. Many people don't have phones. Many villagers are still illiterate. Almost all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 - 35 have left the region to work as migrant laborers, leaving behind the elderly, the weak, women and children to attend to all aspects of life. It's important to reach people where they are, to provide community services, which Dr. Zhang tries to do with initial mobile clinic screenings.

What do you hope a film can do for Dr. Zhang's cause and his patients?
While Dr. Zhang has tried to do a lot in his way, he is only one person. The film is a cry for greater attention to the issues plaguing rural China and for systematic changes that the public can help to initiate and motivate. For example, there is only one special education school in the entire province of Ningxia, with an enrollment in the hundreds serving a population of over 6 million people. In China's urban cities, nearly 80% of youth go on to college, but only 2-5% of rural youth make it to the university level. We hope the film can inspire greater reflection and thinking, both on the part of Chinese audiences and the worldwide public, about how they can be the change they hope to see in the world.

What are all the ways that people can help out or contribute to this project?
We have still not completed our post-production. Our project has been supported by the help of many generous volunteers and we are seeking finishing funds (corporate, institutional and individual contributions) to complete the costly finishing that will enable us to premiere our film this fall at international film festivals. We hope the film will broadcast far and wide to bring greater awareness for the underserved in rural China.

For more about Carol and the project, read a longer interview with her on the Agenda blog.

In Recording A'er, a film by the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, volunteers help the Qiang minority group in A’er village revive and record some of their waning cultural practices. This film also screens this Saturday, at 3pm Penghao Theater. Those who are really into film-based social justice can watch this first and then run to the other one.

The Chinese are clearly no strangers to heroes (ever hear of Lei Feng? Ever see a propaganda poster?), but are superheroes new to them? Stan Lee seems to think so, and hopes to introduce the superhero concept to an eager (and hopefully spendy?) Chinese audience. His Pow! Entertainment (suggested name change: Pao! Entertainment) just scored financing for a new film featuring a Chinese superhero.

Now, what kind of powers might appeal to a Chinese audience? Noodles shooting from fingers? Imperviousness to boiling broth? A special vehicle that flies over traffic jams? We’ll see what Mr. Lee comes up with.

Meanwhile, it seems a flock of Stanford students have put together a musical that’s making waves in the underground theater community in the States. Now, they’ll try to make a splash in Beijing with a three-day run of their folk-rocksy Pawn: the Musical. The setup: a Chinese-Canadian kid gets himself stationed in Afghanistan and comes face to face with an impending bomb while trying to save a group of children. In that moment, time stops and the musical takes it from there.

Details for these and other events this week below.

July 22-24

Pawn: the Musical
Abraham enlists to fight in Afghanistan after his brother is killed in the 9/11 attacks. In his last moments, time is suspended and we journey into his mind. RMB 80-580. 7.30pm. Century Theater (6466 4805)

July 23

Film: Restoring the Light
A rural doctor’s quiet determination to better the social and health circumstances of the poor in Ningxia. Free. 4.30pm. Tsingying Film, Wenjin Hotel (6252 5566)

Film: Recording A’er
Volunteers from the Beijing CHP Center help the A'er villagers restore and record their temple's traditional New Year's Festival. 3pm. Penghao Theater (6400 6452)

Exhibit opening: Paper Terrestrials’ “Landing”
Artists Yan Wei, Ray Lei, Tang Yan, Nod Young and Chairman Ca release limited edition silk screen prints of playful yet disturbing graphics. Join them and the team behind the project for drinks and celebration. Free. 5-9pm. tSpace Gallery (186 0122 3841)

July 24

Film: The Godfather
Before The Sopranos, the Goodfellas and even Jersey Shore, there were the Corleones. Italian culture at its finest. Reservation required: contact@cultureyard.net RMB 25 (includes soft drinks and popcorn). 7pm. Culture Yard (8404 4166)

July 25

Jazz Piano: Vladyslav Sendecki and Moreno Donadel
Genre-blurring solo and duet piano that incorporates classical and jazz. RMB 120-380, RMB 50 (students). 7.30pm. Beijing Concert Hall (6605 7006)

Coming up soon (more on this in next week’s Art Attack!):

July 30

Bike-In Film: The Night of the Hunter
Take a ride out to Caochangdi in the cool night air (one can dream) and catch an old thriller. RMB 40, RMB 20 (for arriving on a bike). 8pm. Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (6432 2663)