China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

Last updated
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
Directed by Jon Alpert
Matthew O'Neill
Country of originUnited States
China
Original languageChinese (English subtitles)
Production
ProducersJon Alpert
Matthew O'Neill
Running time39 minutes
Production companies Downtown Community Television Center
MZ Pictures
HBO Films
Original release
Network HBO
ReleaseMay 7, 2009 (2009-05-07)

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province is a 2009 documentary film co-directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill of the Downtown Community Television Center, and produced by MZ Pictures for HBO Films.

The documentary covers the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake on May 12, which killed around 70,000 people—of which 10,000 were children, many of whom were killed when their schools collapsed. The film focuses on the grieving families and communities of the children as they mourn their loss and question the government over the construction standard of the schools. [1]

Alpert and O'Neill sent the raw footage of the film by courier to the United States, before they were detained and questioned by local police for eight hours as they tried to leave the country themselves. [1] In September 2009, the filmmakers were scheduled to present the film at the Shanghai International Film Festival, but were denied visas by the Chinese government. [2]

China's Unnatural Disaster was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2009. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fisher Stevens</span> American actor, director, producer and writer (born 1963)

Stephen Fisher, known professionally as Fisher Stevens, is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben in Short Circuit (1986) and Short Circuit 2 (1988). He is also a documentary filmmaker, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for The Cove (2009). He also directed the documentaries Crazy Love (2007) and Before the Flood (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jehane Noujaim</span> American film director

Jehane Noujaim is an American documentary film director best known for her films Control Room, Startup.com, Pangea Day and The Square. She has co-directed The Great Hack and The Vow with Karim Amer.

James Leslie John Woodhead, OBE is a British documentary filmmaker.

Thomas Furneaux Lennon is a documentary filmmaker. He was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1968 and Yale University in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Community Television Center</span> Community media center in Manhattan, New York

The Downtown Community Television Center or DCTV is a community media center located in the former Engine Company 31 firehouse in Manhattan's Civic Center on Lafayette Street. It was founded in 1972 by spouses documentary film director Jon Alpert and Keiko Tsuno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Alpert</span> American journalist and documentary filmmaker

Jon Alpert is an American journalist and documentary filmmaker, known for his use of a cinéma vérité approach in his films.

King Gimp is a 1999 documentary that was awarded the 2000 Oscar for Best Short Subject Documentary and 2000 Peabody Award. King Gimp follows the life of artist Dan Keplinger of Towson, Maryland, who has cerebral palsy. Filmmakers Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteford, of the University of Maryland Video Press and Tapestry International Productions produced the film. Geof Bartz, A.C.E. edited the final version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew O'Neill (filmmaker)</span>

Matthew O'Neill is a documentary filmmaker best known for his work on the HBO film Baghdad ER, for which he and co-creator Jon Alpert won three Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ori Sivan</span>

Ori Sivan is an Israeli film and television director and screenwriter. In a career spanning over two decades, he covered feature films, TV drama, TV movies, and documentaries. Sivan and his work won 11 Israeli Film Academy Awards, as well as international film awards, across all the above fields of film making. Sivan is the co-creator of In Treatment, the first Israeli TV drama series to ever be sold for re-make in the US, followed by re-make in over 20 countries.

Cynthia Wade is an American television, commercial and film director, producer and cinematographer based in New York City. She has directed documentaries on social issues including Shelter Dogs in 2003 about animal welfare and Freeheld in 2007 about LGBT rights as well as television commercials and web campaigns. She has won over 40 film festival awards, won an Oscar in 2008, and was nominated for her second Oscar in 2013.

MZ Pictures is a specialized film and TV production company based incorporated in 2009 in Shanghai, China,whose precursor is the MZ Film Workshop founded by Mi Zi, who has been involved in the production of numerous award-winning documentaries, feature films, commercials, TV series and stage plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Grady</span> American documentary filmmaker

Rachel Grady is an American documentary filmmaker.

Daniel Junge is an American documentary filmmaker. On February 26, 2012, he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film Saving Face, which he co-directed along with Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

<i>Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry</i> 2012 American film

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is a 2012 documentary film about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, directed by American filmmaker Alison Klayman.

Lydia Dean Pilcher is an American film and television producer and director and founder of Cine Mosaic, a production company based in New York City.

Peter Kwong was a professor of Asian American studies and urban affairs and planning at Hunter College in New York City, as well as a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

<i>Rock and a Hard Place</i> (film) 2017 documentary film

Rock and a Hard Place is a documentary film produced by and featuring Dwayne Johnson about youth prison boot camps in Miami, Florida, premiered by HBO in March 2017. It was directed and co-produced by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill.

Kimberlee Bassford is an independent documentary filmmaker from Honolulu, Hawai‘i. In 2005, she founded Making Waves Films LLC, which is a documentary production company. She advocates for gender equity and diversity in films and television. Most of her work focuses on Asian American women and young girls, and her films actively seek to correct underrepresentation of those groups in the media.

<i>Katrina Babies</i> 2022 documentary film

Katrina Babies is a 2022 documentary film, directed by Edward Buckles Jr. It explores the narratives of kids who experienced Hurricane Katrina and the impact of the storm’s aftermath on New Orleans youth. It premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 14, 2022 and was released on HBO Max on August 24, 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Shales, Tom (May 7, 2009). "TV Preview: "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" on HBO". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  2. Wong, Edward (September 1, 2009). "Filmmakers Barred From Chinese Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  3. "Nominees & Winners for the 82nd Academy Awards". oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 28, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2014.