This December in Beijing, we proudly present you one Cultural Identities Short Film Package - We're British, But…

Free entrance! If you have any question, please contact our Beijing Arts team 010 65906903-289.

Date: Tuesday 19 December 2006
Time: 18:30-21:00
Venue: HART Center of Arts (Tel. 010 64353570).Please check out the map here.

Opening short film package: 34 various one-minute short films (by Chinese students)

We're British, But…Cultural Identities Short Film Package
Total running time 87mins.

Britain's culturally rich and diverse society is a complex one. Whilst the host country learns to adapt to a wide ethnic spectrum, those emigrating to the UK have to find their own place within an environment which often demonstrates very different values to their own.

The evolution towards creating a harmonious, mutually beneficial society necessarily has to confront issues of national identity, discrimination and crude stereotyping. Often, the task of bridging the two cultures falls to the 'second generation' and the films in this package all represent these issues in some way. Alluding to an early work by acclaimed filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, “I’m British But” (1989), this selection of 5 short films allows some exciting new directors to add their voices to this ongoing discussion.

Raj or Radge? (Menhaj Huda, 3mins, 2001, documentary)

Faz, a Scottish guy of Pakistani descent, entertains us with his life story in 3 minutes and why he thinks he is “more Scottish than the Scottish.”  The film was made to explore the identity of second generation Asians in Edinburgh, and shows that things aren’t as simple as we’d like to think they are.

Safar (The Journey) (Sandhya Suri, 29mins, 2002, documentary)

‘Safar’ is a tale of the Asian Diaspora. It is a moving account of a man’s dream to resettle in his native India after a period of almost 40 years in England and his meditation, in old age, of how he came to lose his home.

Yash Pal Suri arrived in Britain in the mid sixties as a young doctor, hoping to gain further qualifications and return home to a better life in India a few years later. However, a few years soon turned into many. Uniquely, he meticulously documented his changing experiences of emigration in the form of Super 8 movies and audio commentaries, which he would send to his relatives back in India. They in turn would respond with their own ‘cine-letters’, prompting Yash to tell more about his life abroad.

A Portrait of Mr Pink (Helena Appio, 16mins, 1997, documentary)

The delightful Mr Pink is a 73 year old Jamaican immigrant, who has worked for most of his adult life as a refuse collector in London. Since his retirement he has chosen to express his creativity through decorating the exterior and interior of his large, crumbling Victorian house in an unusual, and some might say, eccentric way. But as Mr Pink comments: “Some like this house and some may not like it, I don’t know. But I know a lot of people like it, and I like it myself!”

We've Lived Here All Our Lives (Vikaas Mistry , 3 mins, 2000, animation)

‘We've Lived Here All Our Lives' is a film taking a quick look at Indians living in the UK. The film brings up issues that many Indians in the UK (and possibly first generation immigrants in general) turn a blind eye to. It is a very bitter yet funny 3-minute rant with great visuals.

Dim Sum (A Little Bit of Heart) (Jane Wong, 36mins, 2002, documentary)

Three Chinese women – Marietta, Wah So and Linda - sit making dumplings (dim sum) and chatting in a Chinese grocery in Liverpool. The filmmaker, Marietta's daughter, wants to understand what drives these women. This charming film travels with these women and addresses the issues of personal identity and their attempts to assimilate into another culture: their struggles with language, their sacrifices and their values.