The Blood of Yingzhou District ( 2007 Academy Award Winner )
China/US / 2006 / Ruby Yang(Director)/Thomas Lennon (Producer) / 39 please enquire about other formats available mins
Gao Jun is the toddler who appears in the Oscar winning Blood of Yingzhou District. Director Ruby Yang followed Gao Jun for a period of a year in this groundbreaking documentary which discloses the hidden AIDS epidemic in China. Abandoned by his family, Yang follows Gao Jun who has been moved from foster home to foster home until a family of Aids sufferers takes him in and shows him the true meaning of care and affection. Over time, we see the gradual tranformation of Gao Jun from a lost and desolate child to a mischievous and playful toddler. This stunningly shot documentary at the same time exposes the tragedy of the impoverished Chinese as they donate blood in order to eke a living ignorant of the unsafe medical practices that would cause them to contract Aids. In many of these cases for a mere sum of 50 Yuan, they end up passing the disease to their children. As the parents die, they often leave their children shunned by family, friends and society to live as outcasts on the fringe. At the opening scene, little is known about Gao Jun who doesn't say a word, until towards the very end. Yet, the silent Aids orphan's search for a home to call his own forms the dramatic centre of this documentary set in the rural province of Yingzhou, China.
For a link to You Tube posting and trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=CJx18Ynuzck
Official Site of The Blood of Yingzhou District
Official Site of the China AIDS Media Project