From Somewhere to Nowhere - On the Road in China with Photographer Andreas Seibert

By Villi Hermann / Imagofilm Lugano, Switzerland, February 2009

Length 86' / color / HDV / format 16:9 / Digital Beta Pal or NTSC
Primary languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Swiss-German / stereo
Subtitles: English, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish

You can buy the DVD here.
World sales.
Film review on Swiss Television SRF.
Short version of the movie on Swiss Television SRF.

High population centers of enormous size are springing up in China with dizzying speed. With them comes an increased demand for migrant workers in the construction sector, factories and mines. Some 150 million people have already set out from underdeveloped provinces to earn their living in the growth centers of China.
Andreas Seibert accompanied migrant workers over a period of several years in order to document their lives and work. These laborers allowed him to photograph their efforts to find a better life and a brighter future.
Cineast Villi Hermann accompanied Andreas Seibert on three of his journeys through China.
With its combination of striking photographs and video images this documentary tells the migrant rural worker's stories and conveys a unique impression of the scale of this modern migration - the largest in human history.

Winner: Verona San Gio Festival Best Video Award 2009

Official selection: Lyon Asiexpo (2008, France), Solothurner Film Festival (January 2009, Switzerland), Roma Independent Film Festival RIFF (March 2009, Italy), Roma OcchiRossi Film Festival (April 2009, Italy), Freiburger Film Forum – Freiburg i.Br. (May 2009, Germany), Amsterdam DOKU.ARTS Festival for Film on Arts, Filmmuseum (June 2009, NL), Innsbruck Film Festival (June 2009, Austria), Verona San Giò Video Festival (July 2009, Italy), Locarno Film Festival (August 2009, Switzerland), Como Rassegna Parolaio (August 2009, Italy), Setubal Festroia (September 2009, Portugal), Beirut DocuDays (September 2009, Lebanon), Valladolid Film Festival (October 2009, Spain), Saint Louis Film Festival (November 2009, USA), St. Petersburg Festival Pure Dreams Deboshirfilm (November 2009, Russia), Salerno Festival del cinema (November 2009, Italy), Anchorage Alaska International Film Festival (December 2009, USA), Thessaloniki International Panorama of Independent Cinema (December 2009, Greece), Tiburon International Film Festival (March 2010, USA), Montreal Human Rights Film Festival MHRFF (March 2010, Canada), Milano Festival Cinema Africano, Asia, America latina (March 2010, Italy), Trento Film Festival (April 2010, Italy), Gdansk Docfilm Festival (April 2010, Poland), Tenerife International Film Festival (Official Selection, June 2010, Spain), Kent Filmmaker Festival (Official Selection, October 2010, UK), Buenos Aires Cinemigrante (September 2010, Argentina), Milano Cineteca Italiana, Spazio Oberdan, Sguardi al lavoro (October 2010, Italy), Paris Festival cinéma et droits humains (Octobre 2010, France), Brig BergBuchBrig (November 2010, Switzerland), Nassau, Bahamas International Film Festival (December 2010, USA), Tirana Int. Human Rights Film Festival (September 2011, Albania), Addis International Film Festival, (May 2012, Ethiopia), Buenos Aires Instituto Multimedia DerHumALC, (November 2013, Argentina) etc.

ISAN 0000-0001-FAB1-0000-F-0000-0000-T