From Somewhere To Nowhere

Von Irgendwo nach Nirgendwo – Unterwegs in China mit dem Fotografen Andreas Seibert

Switzerland, November 2008
FILM, Documentary, 86 min.

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directed by
Villi Hermann
Written by
Villi Hermann, Eve Martin
Status
In distribution

Hermann’s film centers on Swiss photographer Andreas Seibert whose work focuses on the entire Asiatic territories. High-population centres of enormous size are springing up in China with dizzying speed. With them comes an increased demand for migrant workers in the construction sector, factories, and mines. In growth centres like the Pearl River Delta in Southern China, one hundred million people have already set out from rural, underdeveloped provinces to earn their living there. Seibert and Hermann accompanied the workers repeatedly in order to document their everyday lives and their journey back home. Their stories are told in a collection of striking photographs that provide a close-up portrait to complement the current discussion of economic growth in China. With its combination of photos and video images, this documentary film conveys a unique impression of the scale of this modern migration of peoples, the so called “mingong”, illegal migrant workers. His pictures depict individuals, not just faces lost in a Mao-blue crowd.

Il cineasta Villi Hermann accompagna il fotografo Andreas Seibert durante tre viaggi in Cina, nel 2006, 2007, 2008. Andreas Seibert è un fotoreporter svizzero che vive a Tokyo e pubblica per grandi riviste internazionali. Il fotografo racconta storie della vita quotidiana di una Cina che cambia freneticamente e da diversi anni si interessa al fenomeno dei migranti all’interno della Cina: lo spostamento di 150 milioni di contadini (i cosiddetti “mingong”)dalle zone rurali verso le megalopoli. Il cineasta e il fotografo viaggiano attraverso la Cina, da nord a sud e da est a ovest. Seguono anche un migrante durante il suo lungo viaggio che, dalla megalopoli di Guangzhou-Shenzhen, lo riporta nella sua provincia natale, il Sichuan, una zona rurale di grande emigrazione.

credits

World Premiere
November 2008
Original Version
English, Swiss-German, Mandarin (english subtitles),  colour, HDV, 86 min.
ISAN
0000-0001-FAB1-0000-F-0000-0000-T
Production
Imagofilm Lugano, RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera, SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
Producer
Michela Pini, Villi Hermann
directed by
Villi Hermann
Written by
Villi Hermann, Eve Martin
Cinemato­graphy
Villi Hermann
Editing
Samir Samperisi, Alberto Meroni
Sound Editing
Riccardo Studer
Sound Design
Riccardo Studer
Re-Recording Mix
Riccardo Studer
Music
Christian Gilardi, Zeno Gabaglio, Gregorio Di Trapani
Location Sound Mix
Villi Hermann

World Sales / World Rights

World Sales
Nour Films

Worldwide Distribution

Switzerland
Imagofilm Lugano Distribution

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