With no previous filmmaking experience under his belt, director Yu Guangyi's debut is an astounding work of great insight and honesty. Timber Gang (2006) follows a crew of loggers into the Changbai Mountains in Northeastern China as they work under frigid conditions to fell tress. His second films Survival Song (2008) focuses on Mr. Han , a college graduate who was laid off from the Forestry Department. To survive, he and his family took over an abandoned logging camp. They now subsist by herding and trapping...until officals demand that they move out, so that a new reservoir for nearby Harbin can be built. This month, Indie Film Forum present two documentaries by filmmaker Yu Guangyi with his attendance.

Film Schedule

Feb. 25 16:30

Timber Gang

Q&A with director Yu Guangyi

Feb. 26 16:30

Survival Song

2008. China. 94min. English subtitles

Feb. 25, Saturday, 16:30-18:30
Timber Gang 2006. China.90min. English subtitles
Yu Guangyi's stunning debut explores a grueling winter amongst loggers in Northeast
China as they employ traditional practices through one last, fateful expedition.

Awards:
-Best Director and Jury Film Prize at Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival(2007)

Feb. 26, Sunday, 16:30-18:30
Survival Song 2008. China. 94min. English subtitles
In the snowbound wilderness of the Changbai mountain range, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province, we find an unusual family: a hunter, his wife, a vagrant named Xiao Li, two dogs and a cat. They live together in a decrepit house in an abandoned logging camp, miles from the nearest village. A century of intensive logging has deforested the Changbai mountain range, leaving its inhabitants destitute. When the government begins clearing away houses to build a reservoir that will supply drinking water to Harbin, the hunter and his household are asked to move. By winter, the house has been half-demolished but the family remains to face even more bitter challenges.

Awards:
-Independent Spirit Award at China Documentary Film Festival (2008)
-Best Director at Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival (2008)
-Special Jury Prize at Tokyo Filmex (2008)
-Best Documentary Award at HKIFF (2009)

Yu Guangyi was born in 1961 in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province. After graduating from the Chinese Academy of Art in Hangzhou, he worked for many years as a woodblock print artist before he began making independent documentary films in 2004. His award-winning debut, the feature-length documentary Timber Gang (Mu Bang), formed the first of his trilogy of films about the residents of China’s remote northeastern Changbai mountain range. The second film in the trilogy, Survival Song (Xiao Lizi) was also extremely well-received and won numerous awards. Yu Guangyi recently completed the third film in the trilogy, Bachelor Mountain (Guanggun).

Moderator: Liu Shu

Moderator: Liu Shu