aiff_program09_interior.xp 3/2/09 3:54 PM Page 39
Tongzhi in Love Upstream Battle
documentar
30 minutes a73 2008 a73 USA/China a73 In Competition 97 minutes a73 2008 a73 Germany/United Kingdom/USA
Thursday 12:10p
a73
Friday 3:10p
a73
Saturday 6:10p Saturday 3:00p
a73
Sunday 3:00p
Sunday 9:10p
a73
Monday 9:40a
Director/Screenwriter/Cinematographer: Ben Kempas a73 Consulting Producer: Magdalena
Hutter a73 Producer: Joachim Schroeder a73 Editors: Raimund Barthelmes, Ben Kempas a73
Plays with: Choices (p53), Help (p58)
Music/Composer: Sebastian Fischer a73 Narrators: Stan Blackley, Jakob Riedl a73 Principal Cast:
Toby Freeman, Merv George, Wendy George, Lynn Long, Jeff Mitchell, Richard Myers, Ron
Director: Ruby Yang a73 Producer: Thomas Lennon a73 Cinematographer: Yang Yishu a73
Reed a73
upstreambattle.com
Animator: “Frog” Cui a73 Editor: Gary Wong a73 Music/Composers: Bill Frisell, Brian Keane a73 ies
Principal Cast: “Frog” Cui, Xiang Feng, Long Ze a73
tongzhiinlove.com
A coalition of Hoopa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok Native
Americans battle to force the removal of dams that have
Three young men navigate the dilemmas of being gay (tongzhi)
devastated the salmon population on the Klamath River. Their
in modern China—torn between the lure of big city life and the
culture is centered around the river and its fish and a hundred
stern demands of Chinese tradition. They live in cosmopolitan
years ago, up to a million salmon would swim upstream to their
Beijing, reveling in the freedom that it affords them. But
spawning grounds each year. Today, only a few thousand return
traditionally, a Chinese son’s solemn duty is to produce a child
to the river. Four large hydroelectric dams cut off their path.
and carry forward the family line. Can they be gay, and still be
good sons? Director Ruby Yang and producer Thomas Lennon The tribal representatives first travel to Scotland, then to the
won a 2006 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary with second-richest man in the United States – billionaire Warren
39
The Blood of Yingzhou District (2007 AIFF). [adult content, Buffet owns the company that owns the dams. The company’s
subtitles] representatives praise hydro power as a low-cost, climate-
friendly source of energy, a valuable resource they say they
Ruby Yang couldn’t afford to lose. Yet, the tribes may soon trigger the
Director’s Statement
largest dam removal project in history. Upstream Battle features
local Native Americans, utility managers, coastal fisherman and
Our field producer and I were doing farmers in the basin — all fighting for water.
research on our AIDS awareness
documentaries. We spoke with dozens of Ben Kempas
middle-aged gay men, though no tape
Director’s Statement
recorder would be allowed. There’s no
society where it’s easy to be gay, but to be gay in China is to I’ve found it fascinating how determined
collide with the most central tenet of Chinese tradition: the they all are to find a solution to a seemingly
honor-bound duty of sons to carry on the family name. hopeless conflict. We’ve been witnessing
how stereotypes don’t stand the test of
Filmography: The Blood of Yingzhou District (2007 AIFF), China 21, Citizen Hong Kong time. Indigenous people turn out to be
smart strategists. Managers in the energy
corporation find their own livelihoods in flux. And we’ve seen
some astonishing alliances between old enemies.
Filmography: Gegen Die Grenze, Im Auftrag Des Schicksals, The Loch Long Monster, To
Be a Nation Again
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