21/10/2019.- The feature-length documentary Made in China, directed by Marc Chica i José, was screened in the DOC. Spain section this Monday, October 21. The documentary tells a story of self-improvement and self-acceptance in a country where a voiceless generation fights for the opportunity to be themselves. This leads 21-year-old Yῡ Liang Yuan to wonder who he is and what he really wants.
In the discussion following the screening at the Broadway Cinemas in Valladolid, the director was accompanied by producer David Delgado, director of photography Pep Bosch Calvo, and sound director Anxo Villar.
As the director pointed out, when he began filming the documentary the main protagonist was the current protagonist’s father. However, when Chica i José learned about the real struggles young people in China face he changed course: “They don’t have much freedom, they have to marry young, adhere to strict rules, live in the city thousands of kilometres away from their hometowns…”. Life is very hard for young people in China, “it’s a generation that has gone from zero to one hundred in the span of 20 years, more than us, and is completely lost and broken,” says the director.
They spent a month and a half filming the documentary with only one camera, and they lived with the family starring in Made in China in order to witness first-hand the problems they face. Apparently, temperatures didn’t rise above -10 C, and Pep Bosch Calvo says that “it was the hardest shooting of my life”.
The sound director says that one of the worst things during the filming were the “firecrackers”, since he was wearing headphones. Although the weather conditions were harsh, he says “it has been rewarding work.”
Living with the family during the filming, Marc Chica i José pointed out that he practised and improved the little Chinese he knew. He also said they are still in touch with the protagonist, Yῡ Liang Yuan. They recently invited him over to Spain, and one of the things that surprised him the most was that “people here do and say what they want.” To finish with, Chica i José stressed that the documentary has made Yῡ Liang Yuan think, and that “he knows what he doesn’t want, although he is still in the process of finding out what he does want”.
