Somersault

2022 Winter Olympic Games will be held in ChongLi County, He Bei province of China. As part of the venue and supporting facility construction, Chessboard Ridge, a village near ChongLi County was set to be demolished, villagers relocated, making way for expressway exit, parking lot and high speed train station, etc.
This film records the whole process, documenting the original landscape of the village, including a small old Catholic church, the daily routine, and the real situation of contract signing, moving, demolishing of the houses, as well as the fallow up scenarios of various relocated villagers. Spanning four years, from 2017 to 2021, the project aims to give a candid and balanced perspective on the great change thus brought about of the land, the village, and the people.
This film is experimental, as the whole video-audio recording has been done with iPhone in 4k-60fps format. No additional equipment was applied, using only the generic functions of the phones. The iPhones were given to several local persons, together with the crew of the film, making it possible for the team to document important moments of the process in the village and beyond. As the villagers are used to phone photography, the iPhones were proved to be non-intrusive, allowing the team to record the scenes without causing much attention and “performance”.