Bringing King to China

Bringing King to China is a 2011 documentary film by Kevin McKiernan. The cinematographers include three-time Oscar-winner Haskell Wexler.[1]

Bringing King to China
Directed byKevin McKiernan
Written byKevin McKiernan
Produced byKevin McKiernan
CinematographyKevin McKiernan
Haskell Wexler
Edited byPaul Alexander Juutilainen
Music byBronwen Jones
Release date
  • January 2011 (2011-01) (USA)
Running time
85 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The documentary is "a father's 'love letter' to his adult daughter, a young American woman's year-long attempt to produce the international premiere of the American Clayborne Carson's play Passages of Martin Luther King on the stage of the National Theatre Company of China.[2] Her life is thrown into turmoil when she learns, mistakenly, that her father, a journalist covering the war in Iraq, has been killed by a suicide bomber."[3]

Bringing King to China conveys the lead character's "dream to build a bridge between the societies by talking about peaceful struggle and universal rights."[4] An American student who first studied in China in high school and later lived there on a Fulbright Scholarship, the lead character chronicles her struggle to interpret and adapt King's message for Chinese society, preserve the historical accuracy of the U.S. civil rights movement, clear bureaucratic hurdles before opening night and raise funds to pay the theater company.[5] The film takes American viewers backstage at the National Theatre Company of China, as Chinese actors rehearse with African-American gospel singers.[6]

The film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival[7] and won best documentary at the Ventura International Film Festival[8] and the Tulsa International Film Festival.[9] It was also nominated for the Viewfinders Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 DOC NYC Film Festival.

Commentators called the film timely,[10] noting it premiered in the lead-up to the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.

References
  1. "Haskell Wexler". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  2. "Beijing Doc: A Report on Nonfiction Filmmaking in China". International Documentary Association. 2009-12-14. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  3. "Starr Forum: Bringing King to China (and MIT) a film screening". Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  4. French, Howard W. (2006-05-30). "Found in Translation: King's 'Dream' Plays in Beijing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  5. "Film on Cáitrín McKiernan '11 Premieres Jan. 30 in Santa Barbara". Berkeley Law. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. "Bringing King to China - About the Film". Bringingkingtochina.com. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  7. "Film on Cáitrín McKiernan '11 Premieres Jan. 30 in Santa Barbara". Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  8. "Awards - Ventura Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2011-07-04. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  9. "Tulsa International Film Festival winners announced | Tulsa World". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  10. Love, David A. (2011-07-13). "Dr. King Is Needed In China, Though His Work Isn't Done in America". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2022-11-04.


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