“From the beginning, I have always told my students, the main purpose of this project is not just setting up the houses. To me, it is more important is to build a bridge of friendship between Chinese and Japanese…” With this mindset, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban came to Chengdu in the Sichuan province.
On May 12th in year 2008, the Wenchuan Earthquake broke out. Two teaching buildings in Hua Lin primary school in Cheng Du became derelict. The paper-pipe structured houses designed by Shigeru Ban are a perfect fit for the needs of the primary school. Architect Shigeru Ban is well-known for his bold use of materials, having set up harbors for refugees all around the world. This time he is hopeful about his trip to Chengdu.
But even with the best of intentions, a variety of adversity must be faced. In August in Chengdu, the weather is too hot for them to tolerate; more than twenty Japanese students have difficulties communicating with Chinese volunteers; bad memories of the Second World War linger in people’s minds; different methods of working pull the gap even wider…But to accomplish their common goal, they have to conquer all adversity. At the expectation of the children, three paper houses are finally completed…
Director:Fan Popo,Zheng Xiao
Fan Popo
Member of Beijing queer film festival committee, coordinator of Chinese queer independent films.
Chief Editor of Gayspot magazine.
Published Happy Together: Complete Record of a Hundred Queer Films (Beifang Wenyi Press, 2007).
Third Prize in the LGBT Research Paper Prize, Chi-Heng Foundation; Second Prize in the sina.com’s parize for online video;
Participation in directing China Queer Film Festival Tour in over ten major cities in China since 2008.
List of works (as director):
2008 The Good Days, 96mins, the 5th China Documentary Film Festival;
From Tsinghua to Qinghai, 28mins, the World Urban Forum IV;
Taipei: city of rainbow, 10mins, the 1st China Queer Film Festival Tour.
2009 New Beijing, New Marriage, 18mins, the 4th Beijing Queer Film Festival, the 29th Vancouver International Film Festival;
Chinese Closet, 88mins, the 2nd China Queer Film Festival Tour.
Paper House, 20mins.
List o works (as photographer):
Queer China, “Comrade” China, the 3rd Beijing Independent Film Festival, the 24th Torino GLBT Film Festival, the 29th Vancouver International Film Festival
Zheng Xiao
Female. Born in 1984 in Zi Gui in Hubei province. Graduated from the Architectonics Research Center at Peking University in 2009.
July 2007- June 2008, Director of public relations in Peking Palette Pictures Ltd,. Co.
March 2008, selected by UCCA to attend the “Independent Film Plan” training.
Independent Producer of 512 Our Homeland, Image of Yu Xi, All flesh, Mei, and ten additional documentaries regarding Chinese living environments and architecture.
Curator of Global City Forum International Youth Film Exhibition 2008.
From The Director
We were attracted by the “Paper House” project as soon as we heard that it was about to begin. With our DV and our passion for documentary in tow, we came to Chengdu in search of the poetic architecture. The process was not as smooth as we had originally anticipated, but we had some unexpectedly fruitful experiences.
After all of our collective hard work, this documentary was selected by CNEX to be included as a part of their annual topic-based productions. We feel very happy, but pressure at the same time. It is another process – we have discovered that making a film is not unlike building a house.
Film Festival
※DOK-FILM-FORUM / Goethe-Institut Shanghai, 2010
※GZ DOC Public Screening, 2010
※CAMERA JAPAN Festival Architecture Special, 2011
