Projects: When My Child Is Born

When My Child Is Born (2010)

Drive Thru Pictures
BBC Four "Storyville", UK (6th September 2010)
DR TV (2011)
Toronto International Film Festival, CANADA (August 2010)
Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK (Nov 2010)

Synopsis

An amazingly candid and personal documentary, When My Child is Born follows a young couple from the discovery of their pregnancy through the birth of their child. With incredible access to the young couple, directors Guo Jing and Ke Dingding explore an incredible transition in the lives of new parents.

Jun and Long are academics. She teaches Virginia Woolf and screens Persepolis (the award-winning 2007 animated film about the Iranian revolution) to her students, engaging them in sensitive philosophical debates on the nature of home. Long is trying to finish his thesis on Kant and Marx, struggling to refine his scope with his academic supervisors. Life is confusing enough, until they find out that Jun is pregnant and nothing will ever be the same.

We follow the young couple as they navigate the world of ultrasounds, overbearing mothers-in-law and baby paraphernalia, buying all kinds of gadgets and preparing the baby's room. But what sets When My Child is Born apart from the many other films about babies is its candour. Jun talks openly about how she misses her independence and how much having a child will be a sacrifice to her own life. Similarly, Jun and Long frankly express their disappointment upon discovering that the child is a girl – a telling example of China's one-child policy. Jun opens up to the camera about her arguments with her mother, who just won't give them the space that they need.

A truly honest portrayal of a great life change, Guo Jing and Ke Dingding's brilliantly uncensored film refuses to gloss over the facts and presents all sides of the story in a truthful vérité manner. Shot with a small crew and a handheld camera, the film crew recedes into the background, allowing the new family the space that they need to be themselves.

When My Child is Born is a loving examination of two people caught between the past and the future, family and career, and modernization and tradition in the ever-changing landscape of contemporary China.

Credits

AMBER ENTERTAINMENT/DRIVE THRU PICTURES PRESENT WHEN MY CHILD IS BORN

DIRECTED FILMED EDITED AND PRODUCED BY GUO JING AND KE DINGDING
PRODUCED BY LAWRENCE ELMAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JEAN TSIEN EDITOR GIGI WONG
TRANSLATION DING JUN AND GIGI WONG AND JOHN LLOYD
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS NICK FRASER FOR BBC, METTE HOFFMANN MEYER FOR DR, RYOTA KOTANI FOR NHK, JOHN LLOYD FOR DRIVE THRU PICTURES
TECHNICAL SUPPORT: ZHANG LIANG
ADDITIONAL SOUND RECORDIST: LI JING FIXER, LI JINQUAN
POST PRODUCTION: TVC SOHO
POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR: MARC COLLINS
SOUND MIXER: NICK ROBERTS
COLOURIST: JACK JONES
PRODUCTION MANAGER: JODY COLLINS
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: LAO CHENGZHE, LOUISE SIMPSON, OLIVIA KEETCH, SARAH SLATER, BRANDON C M WONG
MUSIC BY RAY RUSSELL AND DOU WEI
CO-PRODUCERS BBC AND NHK (JAPAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION) AND DR

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