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THE GRADUATES (285)

10:10, Saturday 30th June, Bragg

Director: Lei Jianjun (China)

Year: 2003

Run time: 35'

Location/Ethnic group: China

Language: In Chinese with English subtitles

Production/Distribution: pending

The Graduates

This film follows of typical group of students over the course of their final year at Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. As they confront the prospect of graduation, the students are going through a special period of their lives. It is a time for them to bid farewell to an age of innocence. The happiness and sorrow they once shared will shortly be gone, but the friendship and the memories will last forever in their hearts. This year is not easy for them, but they will shine through it finally. This is the first documentary made in China to focus on this subject. What makes it particularly unique is that it was made by the students themselves under the direction of their teacher, Lei Jianjun.

Lei Jianjun trained at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute in the Television School, specializing in Documentary Film and graduating with an MA in Journalism in 2001. He worked for several years for China Central Television (CCTV) on a variety of programmes, from chat shows to science programmes. Since 2001, he has been a Lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University where he teaches courses in television production and documentary film appreciation. In 2006, with Zhong Danian, he published Documentary: the sense system of image with Beijing Normal University Press. From August to December 2006, he held a Visiting Scholarship at the University of Manchester under the TSEE scheme.