SURVIVING BEIJING @ Cinekatipunan, March 19, 2007

documentary by Lam Li
SURVIVING BEIJING
March 19, 2007
Held Mondays to Saturdays at Mag:net Café, Katipunan Avenue
Cinekatipunan screenings start at 5:30 PM.
For more inquiries please call 9293191 or visit www.magnet.com. ph.

SURVIVING BEIJING
(Lam Li 2005 Documentary Malaysia-China 85 mins)
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese & English

Dedicated to the Huang Ho label, pioneers of Malaysian Chinese independent music, the documentary traces the group's infamous trip to China to find international recognition- -only to return disillusioned.

Surviving begins as they set off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the autumn of year 2000, and tracks their one month experience living illegally in a place known as the Rockers' Village in the outskirts of Beijing—an erstwhile farming village once considered as the base of aspiring Chinese underground musicians, who led alternative lifestyles and dedicated their lives to making music with a strong social and political bent.

Seeking performance opportunities in shabby pubs and bars, struggling to make an impression while adapting to the alien environment where speaking the same language does not necessarily translate to understanding, their musical quest in the name of the independent spirit quickly turns into a baptism of fire and a test of friendships. The film also examines the impact the month-long Beijing escapade had on the development of the Malaysian Chinese independent music scene.

A crowd favorite in several film and music festivals in Singapore and Taiwan, including "Urban Nomad Film Festival 2006", "Shooting Left Asia Film Festival 2006" and "Spring Scream Music Festival 2006," this documentary has even made its way back to China through a series of nationwide screenings organized by Chinese rock band Miserable Faith and independent film producer, Sun Zhi Qiang.

Special thanks to Mak Wai Hoo of Soundscape Records for making the Cinekatipunan screening possible. This film will be a preceded by NAO, a short documentary on a militant young Malaysian band that has “a voice with the critical precision of a surgeon’s knife.”
http://myspace.com/isnao
http://www.soundscape-records.com/nao/