The documentary filmmakers' struggle in shanghai (reprint from:Shanghai Daily)

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Shanghai is no longer home to scintillating cinema, but it is home to some interesting documentary filmmaking. Here are three takes: an artsy diary of a girl's summer, free legal aid for injured construction workers, and the city's hip-hoppers, writes Yao Minji.

Shanghai's documentary film scene is varied and distinctive. While it may not be vibrant and it certainly is not well-funded, a few determined filmmakers carry on valiantly to convey artistic messages - even if they have to pay from their own pockets.

Though Shanghai is no longer the Hollywood of the East, it does have its documentary filmmakers with their personal styles, methods and theories. They face the common problem of documentary makers throughout China - lack of funding.

The heart of the problem is that Chinese viewers are not accustomed to the documentary style - they want entertainment. Some documentaries meet that standard of good storytelling, but most don't.

"It is too easy to blame everything on the lack of a system (to nurture talent and distribute films). But in fact, the distribution system has to be powered by the audiences - and audiences are not accustomed to watching documentaries," says Zheng Qiong.

Zheng is president of Beijing Channel Zero Media, considered the main professional documentary film distributor in China and the last refuge for documentary filmmakers short of funding.

Here are three examples of noteworthy documentarians and their works. One work is financed out of their pockets; another is financed by foreign institutions; the third is funded by Shanghai Television Station's Documentary Channel.??

The Academic Take

"To tell you the truth, we don't consider the audiences' reactions at all. We don't care if you like the film. In fact, it's only normal if you don't like it," Ke Dingding, co-director of "A Fruitful Summer," tells Shanghai Daily.

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