85 minutes / Color
English subtitles
Release: 2012
Copyright: 2006
MEISHI STREET shows ordinary citizens taking a stand against the planned destruction of their homes for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In order to widen traffic routes for the Olympic Games, the Beijing Municipal Government orders the demolition of entire neighborhoods. Several evictees of Meishi Street, located next to Tiananmen Square, fight through endless red tape and the indifference of fellow citizens for the right to keep their homes. Given video cameras by the filmmakers, they shoot exclusive footage of the eviction process, adding vivid intimacy to their story.
Acclaimed at over two dozen museums and galleries around the world, MEISHI STREET, by renowned visual artist Ou Ning, works as both art and activism, calling worldwide attention to lives being demolished in the name of progress.
“Provocative! Reveals an alternative role for media preservation of historic reality.” —Architecture, Media, Politics, Society (AMPS)
“Represents a development in the working principles of Chinese documentary practice: not simply a collaboration between filmmakers, but a participatory object.” —Senses of Cinema
Select Accolades
Wang Jiu-liang travels to more than 500 landfills, documenting Beijing's unholy cycle of consumption.
WANG Jiuliang | 2012 | 72 minutes | Color | English; Mandarin | English subtitles
Footage from a dozen amateur videographers becomes a symphony of urban social dysfunction in China.
HUANG Weikai | 2012 | 58 minutes | Color | English; Mandarin | English subtitles
Examines the impact of rapid industrialization on traditional housing styles and ways of living in Taiwan.
Wynette Yao | 1987 | 23 minutes | Color
Armed with video cameras, twelve artists present a highly stylized portrait of SAN YUAN LI, a traditional village besieged by China's urban sprawl.
OU Ning & CAO Fei | 2003 | 45 minutes | Color | English subtitles
