Documentary screenings aim to untie music fans

By Lu Tanrou Source:Global Times Published: 2013-12-18 18:03:01

Established in 2009, Wooozy.cn is one of the few music websites in China dedicated to covering independent music. The site's editors are music lovers and insiders from Shanghai and Beijing. In November 2012, Wooozy began organizing offline screenings of foreign documentaries about independent music.

The Wooozy Community Film events are held in bars in six cities across the country: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Wuhan and Xiamen. So far they have shown seven documentaries, covering everything from independent record labels (The Story of Rough Trade), music festivals (All Tomorrow's Parties) and the demise of the record store (Last Shop Standing).

A poster for the screening event Photo: Courtesy of Wooozy



On December 21, Wooozy Community Film will screen Made of Stone at 390 Bar. Shot by Shane Meadows, the critically acclaimed director behind This is England, the film follows the British rock band the Stone Roses after they reunited in 2011.

Fanmu, the chief editor of Wooozy, told the Global Times that Made of Stone was released in British cinemas in June, so they didn't get the legal DVD until October. "We love this film and we are also excited about the reunion of the Stone Roses," Fanmu said. "It took us one to two months to translate the film."

All the documentaries are selected and translated into Chinese by Wooozy's editors. Fanmu told us that they usually choose films that they think are enlightening and of interest to Chinese fans.

"We came up with the idea of hosting community film screenings last September. Our company organized a film viewing for everyone in the office at 390 Bar to commemorate Joe Strummer. The film was The Future is Unwritten and it lasted for two hours without subtitles. Many Chinese colleagues found it boring and difficult to understand without subtitles. So we thought of captioning foreign documentaries for Chinese fans ourselves," Fanmu said. "Nowadays people are immersed in the Internet and online social media. There are few chances for them to gather around and communicate face to face. So we called our event 'Community Film' because we want everyone to feel like they're part of a community and are connected."

Woozy Community Film is not only about watching a movie. For the past few events, Wooozy invited music industry insiders to talk to the audience. "Rough Trade label sponsored us with CDs, books and mugs for the first community film gathering," Fanmu said. "This time we will ask the audience to share why they love the Stone Roses and we'll give out Mylikes Chocolates. There's a story related to the band behind the chocolates, which we'll disclose during the discussion."



Posted in: Metro Shanghai

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