By Ariella Tai
CNEX, producers of the award-winning 1428, has announced their latest call for entries. This year’s theme is entitled “Educate? Educate!” They ask “Before the unpredictable 2012 arrives, CNEX wants to assemble the best and brightest works about education. Since education is not only the answer to but also the root of all questions.”
Selected topics will receive grant funding from CNEX, and those with international appeal may be chosen to participate in CNEX’s CCDF Pitching Forum in Taipei in October 2011.
Those eligible to compete must either be independent directors or producers who have produced two 30 minute documentaries or one 60 minute documentaries, or they can be writers, photographers or social workers/activists who have projects that address the topic of education in China and are working in collaboration with a director or producer. The deadline for submissions is July 20, 2011. Final Selected projects may receive up to 15,000 RNB.
Online Entry Form available at the CNEX site.
More information after the break.
The description of the theme “Educate” is copied below.
To teach is to be a model in order that the pupil can learn by example.
To educate is to instill virtues in order that the pupil aim to do good.
Most of the world believes that Chinese people value education the most. The Imperial Exam system of ancient China gave way to European civil servant qualification system. Reading, memorizing, tutoring, testing are shared experiences, and nightmares, for most Chinese students. And while emphasis on doing well in college entrance exams or pressures to achieve the highest academic achievement have been criticized in recent years, education continues to be the only way that someone born into less fortunate social standing can climb the social ladder. In recent decades Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore (considered Four Asian Tigers) have been the most economically developed countries; while Asia continues to cultivate an extremely qualifying human resources pool to help further the rest of the world’s economy.
That was the education path the Chinese took in the 20th Century. What is the path facing them in the 21st Century? How will the Chinese people face their future? Will the Chinese follow the trend of the world or will they wait in the wings?
Is being educated to carry out the destiny of our ancestors or to carve out a journey for the new generation?
Is education an investment in our future or a beholden to the present?
Is education an even exchange of money and resources or must one sacrifice one’s entire life to obtain the highest academic standing?
Should education be a pursuit of excellence or a pursuit of practicality?
Should a child have a winning attitude from the start or a persevering attitude for the long haul?
Should a child have insatiable curiosity or intense concentration?
Should a child be quick-witted or quietly observant?
Is it better to be utilitarian or altruistic?
Should one survey the vast world with an expansive mind or focus on the immediate surrounding with laser precision?
Should achievements be met with thunderous applause and raucous cheers or quiet praise and modest compliments?
Before the unpredictable 2012 arrive, CNEX wants to assemble the best and brightest works about education. Since education is not only the answer to but also the root of all questions.
We invite documentary filmmakers from all over the world, with your keen eyes and open hearts, submit your iconic stories and vision about education: whether in the valley or the city, on kindergarten playgrounds or in university classrooms, with farmers or factory workers, in a church pew or at the dinner table – we want to show the rest of the world the great talents the Chinese diaspora has to offer in 201