China from behind the lens

Among the other works, there is a documentary about the revival of traditional carpentry in modern woodwork presented in an accessible format, a warm story about a family that has been making spices for generations and a film covering the extraordinary life of 91-year-old actor Lan Tianye from the Beijing People's Art Theatre.

As Francesco Cardinali, one of the foreign advisers of the Looking China Project and a professor at the University of Macerata in Italy, said during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Looking China Project in April, the project is "not only giving an incredible opportunity to international students, but also, in a broad perspective, the best way to build a strong and healthy relationship between people and countries."

Adele Lengyel, a student from the Budapest Metropolitan University in Hungary, participated in the 2017 project. An avid food lover, the theme for her documentary was in never in any doubt－local food, and the making of steamed buns, in particular.

She remembered the first time she stepped into a traditional Chinese market, where culture shock soon turned into real shock.

She was shooting a sequence where fish were being poured into a huge tank where they were held until they were sold.

"I was filming the process when a live fish jumped out of the tank and started writhing on my leg. I screamed because I'd never seen a fish this big, and it was on my leg. Everyone in the market erupted into laughter. What could I do? The fish wanted to be the star of the film," she says.

That day, she was surprised by the large variety of vegetables and strange appearance of the bullfrogs and soft-shelled turtles on offer, and astonished by the sophisticated skills of the fish sellers and encouraged by the smiles on the faces of everyone in the market－who clearly enjoyed being on camera.

In Huang's opinion, the Looking China Project is also about intercultural communication.

"There are times when the foreigners and the Chinese volunteers are excited and curious to be working together, and other times they become perplexed and unable to agree on anything. Yet their friendship continues to grow as they learn to cooperate and tolerate each other with the best of intentions," says Huang.

"We discussed the documentary frequently via email before he came to China. Thanks to his detailed shooting plan, things worked out very smoothly," says Huang Xianliang, Grobbelaar's Chinese volunteer.

During the topic discussion on the first day of the project, she wrote a note to Grobbelaar after his presentation, saying "You are the best". Grobbelaar changed the word "you" to "we" and sent it back to her.

According to Huang Huilin, this year's Looking China Project, which is already underway, will involve 100 young foreign filmmakers from 35 countries and regions on a filming relay around 10 provinces and autonomous regions including Guangdong, Hubei, Liaoning, Guizhou, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. The focus of this year's project is ecological civilization.

Lengyel shooting at a traditional market in Shanghai. [Photo provided to China Daily]