China in Ethiopia (2017)

China in Ethiopia (2017)

China in Ethiopia is a documentary that tells the stories of two employees from a Chinese manufacturing company in Ethiopia which produces plastic products; the first subject is an Ethiopian employee called Seifu who is an interpreter of Chinese. A Chinese employee Lei Zhang is my second subject who is the sole resources purchaser for that company. With Chinese investment becoming a major feature, Ethiopia’s economy has been growing rapidly in recent years, and Chinese manufacturing companies are the optimal work places for most Ethiopians, as Chinese companies always offer a good salary and working environment; they also attract large numbers of Chinese people to come all the way from China to work there for a higher salary. Seifu and Zhang were two characters who had completely different backgrounds and personalities, but they were living and working in the same place and fighting for the same goal, which was to earn more money for their family. The film recorded the reality of their daily work, after-work activities and revolved around how the value of ‘family’ influenced both subjects. 

Link: https://youtu.be/I2a3fXTH4sY

Awards:

• 2018 One World Media Awards ‘Student Award’ Winner
• 2018 Grierson Awards ‘All3Media Best Student Documentary’ Nominee
• 2019 Nice International Film Festival ‘Best Editing of a Short Documentary’ Award Winner
• 2019 Beijing Ethnographic Film Festival Nominee

Film festivals/screenings:

• 2018 Ethnografilm Festival
• PKUCAS Lecture Series ‘China in Ethiopia Screening’, Peking University
• 2021 Days of Ethnographic Film Festival
• China - Africa Visual Culture Public Screening and Discussion, China Africa Shanghai International Network (CASIN)

Collections:

• Permanently collected by the National Library and the China Ethnic Museum.
• Collected by China-Africa Audiovisual Exchange Exhibition (中非视听交流展)