Film Schedule

Up the Yangtze

When: March 1, 2008, 7 pm

Director: Yung Chang

A NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA Co-production (2007)

Official Website

In China, the mighty Yangtze is known simply as "The River." It is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history, the Three Gorges Project. At the river's edge, a girl named Yu Shui says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. She is leaving to work on a cruise line that takes tourists on a "Farewell to the Three Gorges Tour", where visitors get to wave goodbye to 5000 years of civilization. It's "The Love Boat" meets "Apocalypse Now". The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China. Named one of Canada's Top Ten Films, winner of best Canadian Documentary at the Vancouver Film Festival. At the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, this was the first film to be picked up for theater distribution, which is not scheduled until April 2008.

Presented by: Hong Gu
Hong Gu is an instructor of Chinese language and culture at Eckerd College. Born and brought up in Shanghai, China, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Modern British Literature and Literary Theory from Purdue University.

News & Views

  • March 10, 2008

    Read about the "Single-Shot Cinema" Workshop that was presented by documentary filmmaker Leonard Retel-Helmrich.

  • March 7, 2008

    The 2008 Awards have been announced, click here to see the winners.

  • February 15, 2008

    Documentary filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich will be presenting his "Single Shot Cinema" workshop on March 1, 2008. This one-day workshop will combine a theoretical overview of his acclaimed method with a rare opportunity for hands-on exploration of the technique. Learn more and register.