The Unforbidden City

General Information

Author/Creator
Luyn, Floris-Jan van, director.
Language
Chinese.
Subtitles
English
Published
Netherlands : Submarine Channel, 2008.
Physical Description
DVD-ROM (58 min.)
Digital ver. identifier
HU_OSA_00003437

Contents/Summary

Summary
A beer peddler bikes through the narrow alleyways of Beijing’s fourteenth-century neighborhood known as Source Street. As he rides, collecting empties and delivering full bottles, he introduces us to other residents. Grumpy Dong Tongju works in central heating. Gao Li fantasizes about a life as a lady of leisure, with the time to have her nails done and find just the right sofa. Old Wang meticulously records in his diary the banalities of each day, including the high temperature. Just beyond the tightly packed warren of single-story houses stands the gleaming National Grand Theater and the wide, freshly paved road leading out to the modern high-rises that represent the future of this forever expanding city. As a steady beat of pick axes, sledge hammers, and bulldozers closes in on their homes, the residents alternately prepare for and despair of the day when Beijing’s historic heart will have no more room for them. Plans are afoot to build ultramodern, luxury apartments on the site, leaving the future of the families who reside there a matter of anxious uncertainty.

Subjects

Genre
Documentary films

Bibliographic Information

Note
Verzio Film Festival Submission
Library Special Collection
Verzio Film Festival Submission

Holdings

Item Type Current Location Call Number Status Shelving Location Public Note
DVD-ROMOSA Film LibraryFL Record 1819Available--
Digital filmOSA Film LibraryFL Record 1819
(HU_OSA_00003437.mp4)
AvailableAccess Copy, MP4 format