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Two documentaries worth watching
May. 11th, 2005 02:12 pmLast week I volunteered at a Ricepaper event and saw two installments of Chinese restaurants . This is a series of films by Toronto filmmaker Cheuk Kwan. Kwan became interested in the Chinese diaspora and Chinese restaurants. As a result, he travelled to various countries filming Chinese restaurant owners and asking them about their restaurants, and their immigration stories. At times the films were uneven, but it's still an interesting concept and theme. I saw "Chinese restaurants- the islands" and "Chinese restaurants- Three continents." In three continents, restaurants in Madagascar, Norway and Canada are featured. The Canadian restaurant is one from Outlook, Saskatchewan. This segment was particularly touching to me and the rest of the Canadian audience. After the films, the audience got to ask questions and answers and the Ricepaper team got to spend some time chatting with Cheuk and his cinematographer Kwoi Gin.
Last night, I was fortunate to catch the documentary Genghis Blues on television. I've watched to see this documentary since I first heard about it. It's the story of a blind bluesman, Paul Pena. During a difficult period in his life, Paul became interested in short wave radio. He picked up a strong signal from Radio Moscow, and heard some khoomei, also known as throat singing. Paul became fascinated with throat singing, and learned how to do it. He also learned some Tuvan, by translating Tuvan braille to Russian and the Russian to English. He eventually meets some Tuvan musicians during a tour to San Francisco. One of the Tuvans asked him to come to Tuva for a throat singing competition. Paul and a film crew travel to Tuva, where they explore the land and culture. What results is a very moving story.
Tuva is actually a separate country from Mongolia. It's considered part of Russia, but it used to be independent. I've been up near the Tuvan border, which is one of the reasons why I was interested in the film. (The other reason is because I love throat singing). Tuvan culture seems rather similar to Mongolian, but the language is different. They also seem to have more rivers, and more trees. However, there are many cultural similarities that I noted while watching the film. Watching the film made me miss Mongolia a lot.
Last night, I was fortunate to catch the documentary Genghis Blues on television. I've watched to see this documentary since I first heard about it. It's the story of a blind bluesman, Paul Pena. During a difficult period in his life, Paul became interested in short wave radio. He picked up a strong signal from Radio Moscow, and heard some khoomei, also known as throat singing. Paul became fascinated with throat singing, and learned how to do it. He also learned some Tuvan, by translating Tuvan braille to Russian and the Russian to English. He eventually meets some Tuvan musicians during a tour to San Francisco. One of the Tuvans asked him to come to Tuva for a throat singing competition. Paul and a film crew travel to Tuva, where they explore the land and culture. What results is a very moving story.
Tuva is actually a separate country from Mongolia. It's considered part of Russia, but it used to be independent. I've been up near the Tuvan border, which is one of the reasons why I was interested in the film. (The other reason is because I love throat singing). Tuvan culture seems rather similar to Mongolian, but the language is different. They also seem to have more rivers, and more trees. However, there are many cultural similarities that I noted while watching the film. Watching the film made me miss Mongolia a lot.
