shortlisted webdocumentary

The Beijing Chronicles: from Mao to the Olympics

Article published on the 2009-08-24 Latest update 2009-08-26 16:51 TU

(Photo: http://archives.arte.tv/static/c1/chine2008/pekin_maojo/fr/arte_pekin.html?id=97)

Watch the webdocumentary

The Beijing Chronicles: from Mao to the Olympics is a narrative, in video and text, that runs from Tianamen Square to the Olympic Games. It's produced by two partners, Arte-reportage and the production company Hikari.

Eighteen interviews were filmed by Charlie Buffet, a filmmaker who's been based in Beijing for three years, and accompanying notes place the interviews in context.

Marco Nassivera, editor-in-chief of Arte-reportage, says that the project was the coming together of two things. The first of these was a desire "to go beyond what is usually done on the Arte website - taking programmes that have been broadcast and adding extras like interviews".

"Then there was the fact that Hikari Productions specialised in Asia and that we'd worked with them before," he says.

The filming was done in 2007-08 and published on the web a few weeks before the Olympic Games.