8-20 (Sat) 12:00-13:30 The Oath

8-20 (Sat) 16:00-17:00 China Gate

8-20 (Sat) 17:30-18:30 Wandering Village

The Oath

Director: Laura Poitras

Genre: Documentary

Country: Yemen

Runtime: 95 min.

The film delves into Abu Jandal’s daily life as a taxi driver in Sana’a, Yemen, and Hamdan’s military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay prison. Abu Jandal and Hamdan’s personal stories—how they came to serve as Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver respectively—act as prisms through which to humanize and contextualize a world the Western media demonizes. As Hamdan’s trial progresses, his military lawyers challenge fundamental flaws in the court system. As charismatic Abu Jandal converses with his son, Muslim students, and journalists, he generously unveils the complex evolution of his belief system since 9.11.

China Gate

Director: Wang Yang

Genre: Documentary

Country: China

Runtime: 72min.

China Gate tells the story of Chinese youth fighting to change their fates through study. Before dawn, students in Huining have already started their self-study session; hard working youngsters have filled up the spaces of the school ground. This is one of the most poverty-stricken counties in western China; here people's only hope is in education, as the way to change their social status.

Wandering Village

Director: Zeng Qian

Genre: Documentary

Country: China

Runtime: 61min.

North of the Bird’s Nest in Beijing is Dong Xiao Kou, a place where 30 thousand Henan residents have migrated. They scavenge for worn-out recyclables in this city to procure wealth, finding a place of rest somewhere between urban and rural. Family, villages, migration are themes surrounding Beijing. In prosaic style, the film documents modern urbanization in China, the exodus of farmers from their lands, and the stark differences between life in urban centers and villages.

CNEX

BARCO