Under the same sky
YOYO LI/US/15MINS
In 2014, the Chinese government started a new national campaign on equal elementary education, but at the same time strengthened residential registration system to segregate the rural and urban areas. On the one hand, I’m curious how the policies carry through when they conflicts with each other. On the other hand, the elementary education in China puts young children under unbearable pressure, which is what I’ve been through and suffered from. I want to review the education I got in China as an adult to find out what influence it has done to me and is still doing to children with different background.
Cast
Chen Jai-long Huang Yi-Chen
Crew
Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor : Yoyo Li
Producer/Production Sound: Liang Wang
Sound Mix: Weiyang Li
Marketing Director: Dallas King
Director Statement
As a female director from China in my early 20s, I'm studying at Loyola Marymount University for the Maters Degree in Film Production. During the Summer 2015, I went back to Xi’an, China, the city I grow up to shoot a documentary on the
subject of elementary education. The shooting of this movie was a review of my childhood. However, things that have shaped my mind are still affecting the Chinese children today. The struggle of young children is shocking in this growing country with a growing urban-rural gap. I take it as a commitment to use my directing and shooting skills to expose the daily “norm” of the elementary education in China to the world.
Being a DP and director of a documentary for the first time has become an incredible experience after I started editing this project. I realized that feelings I had at the moment affected the frame I was capturing subconsciously. Through this process, the picture gains the power to evoke those emotions I had while filming and conveys my own experience to the audience, which is what I understand the beauty of cinema.
Director's Bio
Raised in China by University Art Professors, Yoyo had grown tired of being censored by the Chinese government on what stories she could tell as she attained her Bachelor's Degree in Film Directing at the Communication University of China. Yoyo embarked on her own journey to Los Angeles and received her Masters in Film Production at Loyola Marymount University. Her experience of being a Director and DP of documentary films had a very profound affect on her vision as a storyteller. She remembers the moment in the editing room when she realized that her own self-discovery in cinema were captured in the personal emotions of the characters and story. Her documentaries have taken hundreds of audiences from the U.S to places they’ve never been as she observes how class and regional lines collide to debunk the Chinese propaganda about equality through her films. In addition to documentary filmmaking, Yoyo is also an award-winning production designer that enjoys creating worlds for other filmmakers.