Countdown on the Yangtze

The documentary invites viewers on a journey along the Yangtze – the most important river in China. More than 2000 kilometers away from the capital, building has been underway on a structure of unimaginable size: The world’s largest dam. The price of this progress: six million people are forced to relocate. Back in 1995, the filmmakers traversed the same. The comparison with the most recent footage shows how much life has changed in just a few years. An impressive documentation of a very old world, and one that is just coming into being.

TEAM
Written and directed by: Shi Ming, Thomas Weidenbach // Camera: Michael Kern // Sound: Stefan Nowak, Georg Brodegger // Film editor: Jan Wilm Schmülling // Music: Stefan Döring // Production manager: Oliver Gontram // Executive producer: Thomas Weidenbach // Commissioning editors: Christiane Hinz, Susanne Schettler

AWARDS
– Bayerischer Fernsehpreis ‘Der blaue Panther’
– Ecotopfilm; International Festival of Sustainable Development Films in Bratislava, Prize of the Ministry of Economy and Construction of the Slovac Republic, 2010
– Silver Screen Award, International US Film and Video Festival, West Hollywood/USA
Finalist New York festivals
– Presented during the festival ‘Großes Fernsehen’, NRW-Medienforum
– Prize for the best Documentary or Drama at the ‘European Environment in TV and New Media Festival 2009’, London

 

  • CLIENT ARD, WDR, ARTE
  • YEAR 2008
  • LENGTH 52 min (english version)
  • DISTRIBUTION united docs