Filmmaker Weimin Zhang’s returns to Ohio University after graduating in 2005.
Alden Library had the honor of hosting a decorated Ohio University alumna.
She is the recipient of the "Women in Film Award," the Distinguished Alumni Award from OU, and she is an associate professor at San Francisco State University School of Cinema. She is Weimin Zhang.
Zhang came to OU Thursday for a screening of her latest documentary, Hutong Days, followed by a Q&A session for an audience of 40 people. Hutong Days, is a short documentary film that uses the observations and personal experiences of Zhang, who grew up in a hutong, which is a group of narrow alleys and courtyards, small shops and restaurants or family homes. Zhang explores the impact of the modernization of China and its effect on the lives of Beijing’s hutong residents.
The film took several years to make, as Zhang went back and forth between China and the United States to film and edit.
“I knew (the hutongs) were going to be gone soon, so I set out in 2004,” Zhang, a 2005 alumna, said. “But, I kept going back and forth and figuring more out every year — but at the same time more was changing every year, and I recognized my own neighborhood less and less.”
The documentary is deeply personal for Zhang, as she grew up in a hutong only to be torn away from it in her formative years because the government gave property to Zhang’s family.
“My father settled in the Wudaoying province, and the People’s Republic of China assigned us to a ‘private’ courtyard,” Zhang said.
Alden’s assistant dean for research and education services, Kelly Broughton, is one of the coordinators behind bringing Zhang back to campus.
“To be able to have a relatively small group of people interact with an award winning filmmaker who understands what our students are doing here — that’s what motivates us,” Broughton said.
Alden regularly dubs the event “Authors@Alden, but Broughton called Thursday “Filmmakers at Alden.” This event, Broughton said, was a result of the broad interest in the film held by many in different areas of study, such as researchers, visual communicators or even urban planners.
Hutong Days is a documentary detailing the reality of the destructive cost of progress in 21st century China. Hutongs are depicted as a time capsule where life stands still — even during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Zhang describes her time in the hutongs as “an escape.”
“I led a double life in 2008,” Zhang said. “I spent long hours covering the Olympics, then at the end of the day, I go to this completely forgotten part of China.”
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The conclusion of the film doesn’t leave much hope for the hutong — the remaining hutongs that are preserved as historical districts are turned into tourist traps, or they are slums left to fester. Even Zhang’s powerful social commentary cannot save the hutongs, as much of the film was met with opposition from the Chinese government.
“Being a filmmaker you have an obligation to film the truth,” Zhang said. “However, sometimes things stand in your way, and you have to express the truth in a more subtle way — not judgmental or overbearing.”
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