Tiananmen (1991)

We respect life, just as we respect history

A CCTV-commissioned, 8-part series shot between 1988 and 1990, but barred from being released after the events of June 4th. A production of the Structure, Wave, Youth, Cinema Experimental Group, an informal collective of young filmmakers founded in 1989 and devoted to the production of documentaries, that includes: this series' two directors, Shi Jian and Chen Jue, as well as Wang Guangli, cinematographers Wang Hongyou and Zhao Baohong, and others like Meng Weidong and Wang Fei. The series documents various aspects of life surrounding Tiananmen: survivors of the imperial era, street performers, grandmothers cooking for their families, fledgling entrepreneurs, fashion school students, foreigners marrying Chinese nationals, and so forth. Each episode starts with a close-up of a giant portrait of Mao hung over the Square, and proceeds as a hybrid of archival footage, direct cinema, and cinema verité, weaving a permanent dialectic between the present and the past, daily life and history.