The initial selection of the GZDOC 2020Golden Kapok Award Competition lasts from June to the end of September. A total of 60 filmmakers sit in the initial selection committee. No more than 200 documentaries will be able to enter the semi-final. 

Zhou Yijun, the director of the popular docu-series CHILDHOOD ELSEWHERE, has talked to us about the first round of selection. Beginning her career as an international news journalist and photographer in 1998, the female director has since covered many major world news events from various hot spots, including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Korean Peninsula and more. She won numerous awards, mainly for her coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, along with other international affairs.

In 2019, Zhou Yijun directed and hosted her first docuseries CHILDHOOD ELSEWHERE, which reflects different education concepts of different cultures. The series were quite a success online and was honored as “Top 10 documentaries of 2019” by CCTV.

GZDOC：How has the Covid-19 changed your life and production?

ZHOU: Like everyone else, I was trapped at home for a long time, but I didn’t stop filming. It was quite difficult to film during the pandemic, because it was hard to go anywhere else. I were quarantined three times so far, there might still be a chance to be quarantined again in the future.

It felt unreal when the pandemic happened. When I wake up every day, I wonder if this is true. How come this world has suddenly become like this. I think we have all been completely changed.

GZDOC: Why did you choose to become adocumentary director after a successful career as a journalist and a host?

ZHOU: Early in my career, I reported international news, but today great changes have taken place about the journalism.The way of expression carried by the traditional media and the competition imposed by the social media are completely different from the time when I was a reporter. Journalism is facing challenges that I had never experienced before.

Although the traditional media, such as newspaper and TV, might be declining and being changed, the core of journalism, including investigating, analyzing and discovering the unseen, remains the same. We’ve seen more of this in the movies and documentaries. For example, many movies are "based on true stories." If journalism is regarded as a form of media, it is changing, but as a kind of skill, it has not changed much, it remain alive on different type of media.

Although I am still obsessed with wording and writing, I also like the moving images and stories. Rather than I deliberately chose the documentary, I was drawn naturally to "the art of reality".

GZODC: Are you likely to try other fields in the future?

ZHOU: I didn’t choose to change myself. But the new opportunity comes to me. My friend joked about me being a"Slashie Middle Aged Woman"*. I wish I could settle down in a certain field. I envy those who have worked in a field for a lifetime and become a master. I have thought about why I can't settle down and this may be my disadvantage.I don’t know whether I will try a new field in the future, but right now I enjoy making documentaries. There are struggles in the journey, but the completion of a story make me feel satisfied. It encourages me to carry on making more documentaries, but I don’t know if I do it well, how far I could go, and whether I will continue to do it.

GZDOC: CHILDHOOD ELSEWHERE  is a collaboration with Youku. It received widespread attentions and good responses. But there are also many documentaries out there which can not be seen by the wider audiences.

ZHOU: As one of the initial selection committee members this year, I have watched many excellent documentaries. I noticed that even though some works are about affairs in different countries and societies, they focus on similar subjects and social issues. For example, there are thousands of stories about environmental protection. The audience may feel that they have seen hundreds of works on similar subjects, which might lower the impacts of the films. But every story is important. We need to give every story a chance, but on the other hand, we really need something new to tell.

Many documentaries target at festivals. But not everyone has the access to the festivals. Amid the currentepidemic, it is more difficult for people to see these documentaries. Also many documentaries are available on streaming platforms, but audiences have to pay the subscription fees. I hope that documentaries can be seen on a wider range of platforms in the future, so that watching documentaries can become a part of our lives. Documentaries present various aspects of life and tell the diversity of the world.

GZDOC：How do you define a good documentary?

ZHOU: Personally, I would like to shoot something about the "elephant in the room", which is something in our lives we barely talk about, but has a huge potential impact on us. Things like these will be an excitement for me.

GZDOC：In theinitial selection process of the GZDOC 2020 Golden Kapok Award Competition, have you found any productions of such kind?

ZHOU: I think the problem raised by THISIS NOT A MOVIE  is indeed “the elephant in the room”. We use social media every day, which gradually shapes our views and our understanding of facts, but we may not be aware of it. CODED BIAS is also such a kind. We take it for granted that the cameras all over the street bring a sense of security, but we don't actually know what the surveillance is doing. AI itself is biased and has its trade-offs. We may know what has been changed and what we have become, but we may not aware of what we’ve lost in this process.

GZDOC：Due to the epidemic, festivals and exhibitions have been affected. It is a challenge as well as an opportunity. It’s the same for GZDOC. Can you talk about your feelings about our previous edition and your expectation this year?

ZHOU: It is difficult for festivals. I was invited by Shanghai International Film Festival as a seminar host, but I couldn’t make it as I was in Hong Kong. It was difficult to host the event online. I was wondering there might be a better and more effective way for us to connect with each other in future festivals. Maybe we shall work on a plan b, a long-lasting solution, if the virus is still around in the next few years. If it’s the case, what shall we do?

Last year I came to GZDOC and I really enjoyed it. One of my sharing sessions were all booked out. There were crowds of people at the venue. It was touching. I also had the opportunity to meet with many professionals from the industry. In fact, I think GZDOC has done a really good job. I just hope that GZDOC can be held successfully this year.