Back in May, I blogged about the documentary Up the Yangtze. It’s that film, directed by Chinese-Canadian Yung Chang, that follows a young girl and her family as she takes a job aboard a tourist ship that goes up the Yangtze river in China. The family’s struggles hallmark the changes in life and culture as a result of the flooding caused by the Three Gorges dam. (I hope that my poor man’s summary is doing the film justice!)

The movie was also a finalist at Sundance earlier this year.

It’s now available on DVD! Hooray! So if you missed it, now the time to slap this bad boy on your Netflix list or request it from an artsy coworker for the holidays. It’s a great film and a touching story! Not to mention this was the first big break for Chang, and he’s a cool dude! It’s nice to see good stuff happen to good people.

Below is a quick exclusive interview with Chang:

What did you want to be when you were 5? What about 15?
I realized I wanted to become a filmmaker or have something to do with the arts, when I was in high school. I was too shy to join the theatre department and too afraid to tell my parents. Eventually I got into photography and joined the film club. I started making elaborate, ambitious documentaries and experimental films with analog video. An English teacher showed us early video art by Colin Campbell, Midi Onodera and General Idea. My first documentary was simply titled “Jazz” and had almost an 8 minute intro on black leader using the first track from Tony William’s Live in Tokyo album. Pretty bad. Lesson learned: Never edit your own films.

Which is the coolest place you’ve gotten to visit so far in your whirlwind tour?
I loved Buenos Aires - great festival, great city, great people. I was recently in Brazilia and had a great time there too! Sydney was an amazing city! I was there back in June. Lots of Asians in Sydney. 

What have you learnt from this experience that will make subsequent films that much better?
Every film is a learning experience. I’ve learned to be impulsive and also to be as organized as possible.

Is the film screening in China? I’m assuming it’s not.
The film will screen at the Guangzhou Intl Documentary Film Festival in the winter of 2008 on a double bill with Manufactured Landscapes, a film about the photographer Edward Burtynsky. 

Professionally, where do you hope to be 10 yrs from now?
I hope to keep making the films i want to make and not have to compromise too much. 

Below is the official blurb stuff with links and all that useful jazz: 

Across North America, UP THE YANGTZE has stunned audiences with its singularly moving and visually striking portrait of a country in dramatic flux. China’s Yangtze river—and all of the life that surrounds it—is undergoing a truly astonishing transformation wrought by the largest hydroelectric project in history, the Three Gorges Dam. 

Canadian documentary filmmaker Yung Chang returns to the gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace the surreal life of a “farewell cruise” that traverses the gargantuan waterway. With touching humanism and wry wit, Chang follows the microcosmic society of the luxury liner and the bitter irony of a young girl sent to work as a dishwasher aboard the ship, trying to provide for her peasant family as the river’s floodwaters drive them from their home. 

UP THE YANGTZE is coming to DVD November 18 and is available for pre-order now!  

With a beautiful transfer from a new anamorphic master, created from Hi-Def elements and enhanced for widescreen TVs, UP THE YANGTZE is a cinematic masterpiece as well as a compelling nonfiction film.

The DVD also includes:
• Twelve deleted scenes
• Time-lapse flooding footage of the Yangtze River
• 2006 Research Demo Reel
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Optional Traditional Mandarin subtitles
• Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks

Watch the trailer: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/displaytrailer.php?directoryname=uptheyangtze
Buy the DVD: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/videocatalog/product_info.php?products_id=142
Add to your Netflix queue: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Up_the_Yangtze/70084172?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1567710577_0_0

Independent documentary and 2008 Sundance finalist Up the Yangtze will be screening for FREE today at the University of Southern Cailfornia (USC). I previously blogged about this monumental documentary back in May when director Yung Chang was in town to promote the film. Once again, Chang returns to LA to provide a Q&A with students.

The screening is today at 2 p.m.
University Park Campus
Taper Hall of Humanities
201

For details, please visit: http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/867098