People of China

On the one hand: Dao priestesses dancing in temples hidden within cloud covered peaks of Wudang Mountains – the cradle of Daoism and Tai Chi. Beautiful Yunnan, where mysterious Tibetan temples of Shangri-La meet thousand year old ancient villages and blue clad Bai women in the villages surrounding the Erhai Lake.

On the other: Men playing board games in grey hutongs of Beijing and kitchen porters doing the dishes in the grimy back alleys of Hong Kong. Ghost cities of empty buildings ready to accumulate millions of new dwellers. The rise of the new urban middle class.

When in your memories temple incense smoke mixes with pulsing neon lights of Hong Kong’s nightscape you know you’ve been to China.

We filmed with two Fujifilm XT-2 cameras equipped with Fujinon lenses:
35mm f/2.0,
23mm f/2.0,
80mm f/2.8
18-55mm – f/2.8-4.0
supported by Samyang 12mm f/2.0, Zhiyun Crane v2 and DJI Mavic Air drone

Directed by: Marta Trela
Camera: Marta Trela, Henning Himmelreich
Edit: Marta Trela
Sound Design: Tim Heumesser
Music: Fal by Max LL through Musicbed
Color Correction: Xenia Brenner

Yunnan:Kunming, Dali, Nuodeng, Shaxi, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Hong Kong, Hunan: Fenghuang, Zhangjiajie (Wulingyuan Scenic Area), Hubei: Wudang Mountains, Shaanxi: Xi’an, Shanxi: Pingyao, Beijing, Great Wall: Gubeikou-Panlongshan- Jinshanling