Agen

Agen is a popular medicine healer who collects most of his remedies in the forests of Yunnan, a province in Southeast China famous for its diverse ethnicities and medicinal herbs.

After collecting and gathering what he needs, he goes to all regional markets and sells his remedies to all those willing to believe his claims.

  • Ivo Hardies
    Director
  • Ivo Hardies
    Writer
  • Ivo Hardies
    Producer
  • Agen
    Key Cast
  • Ivo Hardies
    Edtion
  • Ivo Hardies
    Camera
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 6, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    1,500 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Spain
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital HDV
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • COART Festival
    Dali, Yunnan
    China
    June 11, 2016
Director Biography - Ivo Hardies

Ivo Hardies is a translator by profession, but spends her most quality time interpreting the world around her in her vocation as anthropologist and filmmaker. She has lived in China for over thirteen years, where she raises her daughter Yun.

Documentary filmmaking is teamwork, but a limited budget and a closeness to her subjects makes Hardies a highly-effective one-woman band, with all the advantages and disadvantages.

Whenever time permits, she takes to her motorbike with her minimal filming equipment—all in a single backpack—and goes in search of subjects. Her ethnographic participant-observer style and daring takes her audiences into places that few people, native or non, ever venture. Upon returning home, she reviews her footage, and the collaborative process begins, as she edits with the help of good friends. Agen and Sanyuejie are her first short works, but there is much more footage in the vaults, and more stories to come.

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Director Statement

Without question, China is the most idiosyncratic/distinctive country I have ever come to know. A beautiful dualism of two extremes co-exist here in relative harmony. My intentions are simple: to record as much as possible and give whoever is interested a close taste of this pocket of China.