This year’s FEFF Doc Sidebar features four films that examine both the soft and economic powers of Japan, Thailand, China, and an Italian documentary that looks China’s new “Great Leap Forward” that is changing the global landscape. They encapsulate the cultural and societal trends in Asia that have been shaped by the winds of war of the last century, an amalgam of post-World War II nation rebuilding and the growing pains of this century’s digital age. As the world goes through a paradigm shift of tradition versus innovation, with neo-conservatives holding onto power as long as they can (i.e. Trump, Duterte, Abe, Xi, Brexit, the list goes on and on) the “status quo” is constantly being challenged across the broad spectrum of countless industries, cultures and programs. From blinding nationalism, to the patriarchy, from pop materialism to nation building that may or may not hold the rest of the world hostage, the Asian century is very much alive and well, with this moniker resonating in these four documentaries and adding to the holistic programming of FEFF.
Director Hao Wu returns to FEFF with his latest documentary, the award-winning People’s Republic of Desire. Three young characters – a singer, a comedian and a migrant worker – search for fame, fortune and human connection by livestreaming their talents online. In storylines that look like future plots of the cult show Black Mirror, this film showcases that China’s internet culture is far from cyberpunk sci-fi. It is already here, it is strange, and a frontier where netizens desire to be unique personalities and develop rabid fan bases that would rival any famous celebrity in any other country. The documentary is a snapshot in time, as the politburo catches up to regulate ‘net culture.
The pursuit of becoming famous is a timeless story. Southeast Asia looks to East Asia to cultural trends and idol fandom occupies both the alpha and omega of Asian pop culture. Thai director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry peers behind the curtain of Thailand’s biggest pop idol supergroup BNK48. Consisting of 50 members, the girls have to compete against their best friends. Plus, it’s not necessarily talent that will get them ahead, but rather, how much of a social media footprint one has to become a powerful “influencer.” The immense pressure to rise above the pack can be daunting, especially with the unconditional love of countless fans, who expect purity, sex appeal and a manufactured image that is sacrosanct to the unrealistic values of being an Asian pop idol.
There is an age-old idea that women cannot be sushi chefs because their body temperature is higher and their hands would affect the nigiri that is formed in a chef’s hand, bringing imbalance to the art of sushi-making. This, of course, is total bullshit, and is just one example of many that feed into the status quo, especially in Japan. In film journalist and filmmaker Konishi Mirai’s informative and thirst-quenching documentary Kampai! Sake Sisters, he delves into the lives of three women who are making waves in the male-dominated industry and tradition of sake brewing – From a master brewer who is continuing the honored tradition of her family’s famous sake brewery, to a young sommelier who has developed a loyal following at her Tokyo eatery, to a hakujin from New Zealand, who went to Japan to teach English and fell into the world of sake to emerge as an expert with a refined palette. Their collective work of adapting ancient traditions and ushering in a new era of inclusivity and changing the industry from the inside out, shows the slow but progressive changes in Japanese society that are destroying antiquated and sexist ideas that limit women’s roles in becoming leaders of their fields.
In the last twenty years, Japan and South Korea occupy the seats of soft power in the perpetuation of Asian pop culture. China, on the other hand, is exercising their hard power, laying down the groundwork to moving Beijing as the center of the world (and winning). Over one trillion dollars and more than 60 countries involved, Yi Dai Yi Lu 一带一路, or One Belt One Road (OBOR), is the greatest economic development plan ever conceived since the postwar period. The brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping, OBOR is an ambitious project that focuses on improving connectivity and cooperation among multiple countries spread across the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. The road is paving over 11,000 km from the Asian continent, through Africa and ending in Europe, paving the way for a new “Silk Road” that China will control. Filmmaker and journalist Pio d’Emilia describes China’s new “Great Leap Forward” as her quest to peacefully conquer the world. In Yi Dai Yi Lu – One Belt One Road, China is no longer just a country in the “Far East.” China has already arrived and who knows where it still wants to go.
Anderson Le