You are the Days to Come
Travel back in time with six Chinese artists whose late-20th century creations represented the revolutionary dreams of a generation soon to be violently silenced by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
It was the 1980s. Beijing was on fire. Young artists were fighting for political emancipation and artistic freedom and people dreamed of a different future. Framed by director Ronja Yu’s personal memories, YOU ARE THE DAYS TO COME brings audiences back to this era of hope, enlightenment and rebellion. A cinematic film showing a decade rarely known outside China. Putting Tiananmen Square in a new perspective and revealing the power of art.
Filmmaker Ronja Yu grew up in Beijing in the 1980s. The film weaves her personal reflections and lived experience together with the stories of the six prominent Chinese artists: The two members of the first Chinese contemporary art group. Who’s political activity resulted in a paradigm shift in the Chinese art scene; The father of Chinese rock n’ roll, the national icon, who emerged on stage with a red blindfold over his eyes, in front of thousands of protesters; The art entrepreneur who gathered thousand of artists to wrap up the Great Wall and created a Woodstock alike art happening. The young writer who fled to Beijing and became the main character in the first independent documentary film in China. And finally, the performance artist who stepped forward at the National Art Museum and with her gun “shot the first shots of Tiananmen Square”.
PROJECT
Title: You are the Days to Come
Director: Ronja Yu
Producer: Anna J Ljungmark
Co-producer: Ronja Yu, Ronja Film
Editor(s): Ronja Yu, Nanna Frank Møller,
Cinematography: Weimin Zhang
Sound: Martin Hennel
Duration: 92 + 58
Partners: Swedish Film Institute, ZDF/ ARTE, SVT/ K-special, Film I Skåne, Konstnärsnämnden, Mubi
STATUS: Premiered at Hot Docs 2021
