The Granny House Away from Home was the most dramatic of the eight documentaries shown recently in Kunming, as part of the village video project sponsored by the EU-China Biodiversity Program.
Many of the 300-plus viewers in Yunnan University’s auditorium were captivated by the film’s central theme - How to preserve a fast-vanishing ethnic culture in the face of rampant commercialization.
While dismantling a 200-year-old house from its original location and recreating a replica in the capital may be seen as one way of triggering enthusiasm for heritage protection, it raises the question: At what cost?
The preservation of culture does not mean uprooting it from its own soil and context and displaying it as a dead exhibit in a distant museum.
The film’s ending has also triggered hot debate among viewers. The current ending is a happy one, showing celebrations in the new house. The alternative ending has Pinchu, the main protagonist, standing on a train deep in thought, after taking one last look at his granny’s house. Many prefer this second version, saying it leaves viewers to mull the questions raised in the film. But, life goes on whatever happens, says Erqing, the filmmaker, explaining why he prefers the current ending.
Thanks to rural amateur filmmakers such as Erqing, urban viewers in Kunming got, for the first time, a closer look at issues such as the fate of the vanishing Himalayan vultures and how locals view the impact of climate change on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.
Those standing behind the camera represent vital communities in rural China who are trying to protect biological as well as cultural diversity. Through personal stories, they articulate the challenges faced by their communities, and ultimately all of mankind.
(Lin Gu is the senior media expert for EU-China Biodiversity Program.)
