"I was awarded my prize and sent to Zhuhai". Alisa Pashkova is at "Looking China" again.

Alisa Pashkova, a graduate of St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television (2018), became the owner of the second prize at the "2018 Looking China Golden Lenses Awards" and took part in the international youth film project "Looking China Youth Film Project" again. Read about her trip to the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province and the film she shot this year.

For me, everything started a year ago. After the selection round at the university, I came to China to shoot my first serious documentary. At that moment I did not think that I would return there a second time. But at the end of 2018, my Chinese producer of the last year project called me and said that our film won the second prize in the "2018 Looking China Golden Lenses Award" and that the sponsors of the Looking China program want to invite me to China again. Taking into account the experience of the last year, I agreed without hesitation. After that, I was back in Beijing at the opening ceremony, where I was awarded my prize and sent on an exciting journey to the city of Zhuhai in southern China in Guangdong province.

Zhuhai is a very young city that was built in 40 years only. This surprised me the most of all. Previously, it was a village and buildings of those times still remain there. However, high-rise urban jungles stand proudly above them. I was very inspired by it because I am a big fan of urbanization and urban planning.

The common theme of this year’s "Looking China" project was the notion of "time". I think that this is the most successful topic for such a place like Zhuhai. I immediately began writing the script and creating the concept of the future film.

But everything changed after sightseeing tour on the first day. We were taken to a local landmark: a new opera house. It was made in the form of two huge shells that stood on the coast, as if they had just been thrown out of the sea. This building inspired me so much that I decided to focus on it. But how to connect the concept of time with these huge buildings? Collating the fact that the Opera was completed in 2018 and has been working only a year and the fact that Zhuhai is an extremely young city, I decided to tell how the sound of the city changes from year to year. The quiet rhythm of life turns into a fast and energetic one.

By the way, this year I was in a group with students from Portugal, Hungary and South Korea. Everyone was very kind and helped each.

According to the rules of the program, we had five days for shooting and five days for editing. However, like last year, this year I managed to do everything for eight days only and the remaining days I could get to the city center or relax on campus, which was just incredibly beautiful.

I also want to mention our very kind supervisor Tobias. He flew in from Portugal, but originally he was a German and studied in Germany. Tobias spent a lot of time checking out our films, giving advice on direction, editing and more. Of course, I had already graduated from the university, but I was very pleased to feel like a student again.

In general, I am extremely grateful to the sponsors of the program for giving me the opportunity to return to China and make another film. By the way, the film turned out very interesting! Who knows, maybe next year they will call me again? I hope.

Alisa Pashkova, graduate of the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television (2018),

the workshop of Prof. Alexandre P. Kryvonos.