10. This documentary about the Beijing Olympics grew out of a module on “International Documentary Production” that the director, Tan Siok Siok, taught at the Beijing Film Academy, China’s famous film school.
9. 4 of the producers on the project are current undergraduate students from the Management Faculty of the Beijing Film Academy. They are led by Chief Producer, Hu Tingting, who graduated from the BFA in 2005.
8. Almost everyone on the production team is a current student or recent graduate of the Beijing Film Academy.
7. The initial idea for the film came about as a result of a conversation among four friend over drinks in Hou Hai, Beijing’s popular night life district. All four go on to play key roles in the production of the film — they are Tan Siok Siok (Director), Hu Tingting (Producer), Zhao Dahai (Director of Photography), Tong Zhijian (Cameraman).
6. One of the sources of inspiration for the film is a series of 19th century Japanese woodblock prints,”36 Views of Mount Fuji” by the artist Hokusai.
5. Filming took place between May to September 2007. Hence the working title of the film was “The Summer Before the Olympics”
4.The director thinks that the first 100 days after the Beijing Olympics would make an even more fascinating documentary.
3. Billboard along the streets of Beijing containing slogans and advertisements about the 2008 Olympics feature prominently in this film.
2. The closing scene of the film was shot on the eve of Oct 1st, China’s National Day and the beginning of week long national holidays dubbed the “Golden Week”.
1. When you google “Beijing Olympics documentary”, the official website of the film Boomtown Beijing is #2 out of more than 87,000 hits.
January 9th, 2008
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