Film Partner: INKOTA network
China Blue takes us on a poignant journey inside a blue-jeans factory. The working conditions Jasmine and her teenage friends must survive are harsh beyond imagination. They are also unlawful by international standards, and tensions in the factory are running high. So when the factory owner strikes a deal with a Western client and demands around-the-clock production to meet the deadline, a confrontation becomes inevitable. Shot clandestinely in China, under difficult conditions, this is a deep-access account of what both China and the international retail companies don’t want us to see – how the clothes we buy are actually made.
China Blue is Part 2 of Micha X. Peled's 'Globalization Trilogy'.
Part 1:Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town
Original Title: China Blue
Language:
English-Chinese original version with German subtitles, Original version with English subtitles (not available in USA, Canada and Mexico)
Country of Origin: USA
Year : 2005
Duration: 88 Min.
color
Director: Micha X. Peled
Script: Micha X. Peled
Camera: Micha X. Peled
Editing: Manuel A. Tsingaris
Sound: Song Chen
Music: Miriam Cutler
Production: Teddy Bear Films, ITVS – Independent Television Service, Micha X. Peled, Song Chen
Festivals: 2006:Green Film Festival in Seoul (South Korea); International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana (Russia); Jerusalem International Film Festival (IL); Film Festival Mill Valley (USA); CPH:dox Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival (DK); ueber arbeiten – labor, economocs globalisation film tour (GER); 2005: Toronto International Film Festival (CA); Zagrebdox (Croatia) International Documentary Film Festival; One World Human Rights Film Festival, Prague (CZ); Thessaloniki International Film Festival (GR); San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival; Bermuda International Film Festival (USA); It’s all True International Documentary Film Festival, São Paolo (BR); Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (USA), Hong Kong International Film Festival (China)
Awards: 2005: Amnesty Human Rights Award, IDFA, Amsterdam (NL); Honorable Mention, Vancouver Film Festival (CA)
Parental Guidance Suggestion: suitable for all ages
supported by:Center for Asian American Media, Sundance Documentary Fund, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, IndependentLens PBS
DVDs available here
The INKOTA network has stood for commitment to developmental policy work for nearly 40 years. Even in the GDR, INKOTA was a voice of critical opposition. Today 21 groups and more than 120 individual members belong to the INKOTA network.
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Jasmin comes from the countryside and knows nothing about city life. And here she won't learn anything because she works, and works and works. The shifts are much too long and she is given little time to sleep. Her bed is crammed into a barracks-like building behind the factory where, after work, the many young women are herded. They get to sleep for a few hours every night before they're hustled back to the factory floor to produce more jeans.
Every now and again an international buyer turns up, usually to push down costs. Then they show up again to increase order numbers. Often though, they try negotiate higher numbers at lower costs. They also come to inspect the manufacturing quality. Factory owner Mr. Lam knows what China has to offer: “We have a lot of resources, most especially, human resources.” Lam, whose factory produces 200,000 pairs of jeans a month, was Shaxi Town's chief of police before China liberalized its markets. He earns about 20 cents on each pair of jeans, or $40,000 a month. A good reason for passing the pressure from foreign buyers directly onto his female employees. He demands that they work not only days but also nights without paying for extra hours. In a month, the women earn what is equivalent to the price we pay for one pair of cheap jeans – minus the dues employees pay for the lodging, food and water provided by their employers. When buyers increase lot units on a specific order, the women won't get paid until much later. This is to prevent them from abandoning their jobs before the orders are completed.
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