UNLIKE many documentaries that set their eyes on important and outstanding people, the 12-episode documentary series “Community” attracted the city’s attention recently by telling stories of 12 grass-roots nongovernment organizations formed by ordinary Shenzhen residents.

    Supported by the city’s cultural development fund, this SZ-made documentary production spent two years following the organizations’ activities, revealing their behind-the-scenes happiness and tears to the public and their contributions to promoting the spirit of Shenzhen.

    “Shenzhen has always been a leading city in the development of nongovernment organizations,” said Deng Kangyan, producer of the series and president of Shenzhen Yuezhong Media Co. “There is a large number of organizations of this kind in the city, which are formed voluntarily by ordinary people, making contributions to the city in many aspects. This is not usually seen in other major cities in China. We are very impressed by their devotion and hope their stories will become known to more people.”

    The first episode, which aired on SZTV Metropolis Channel on Feb. 22 at noon, told the story of a mountain rescue team that provides professional rescue service in emergencies and disasters. The second episode was about an online forum that helps lonely, retired soldiers fulfill their last wishes.

    Other episodes focused on a group of airplane lovers who make planes by their hands, the popular website doyouhike.net that has organized charity hiking activities for 13 years in a row, an association which is dedicated to protecting ocean environments in Shenzhen, a society which helps autistic children embrace a new life, two organizations which promote reading and education and a voluntary teaching group which has sent thousands of volunteers to teach in rural areas in China.

    There were encouraging stories as well as moments that put Deng and his team at a loss. Among all the interviewees, a grass-roots band, which used to perform at the Civic Center Square, struck Deng and his team. “We had shot them for more than a year and had witnessed their bitterness and joy. Before we finished shooting, the band broke up. That was one of the saddest moments in the whole process, but we still chose to record everything for the audience. We want the audience to know the real story of a grass-roots team in Shenzhen,” said Deng. “These true stories are the real value of these documentaries.”

    Deng plans to make more documentaries about the city’s nongovernment organizations. “We chose these 12 organizations because they all had good stories. Some were fun, some were full of conflicts and some were unique,” Deng said.

    As the former planning director of Shenzhen Youth magazine and editor-in-chief of Phoenix Weekly, Deng made the decision to make his own documentaries on a whim.

    After three years of hard work and spending lots of money, Deng and his company finally made their first documentary, “The Search for Major McMurrey.” It was a documentary that traced the life story of Major William C. McMurrey, a U.S. major of a 4,000-person American ground force that helped China’s Expeditionary Forces fight against Japanese aggression in India and Myanmar (then called Burma) as a part of the Anti-Fascist Allies during World War II.

    Income from the documentary was only about 30 percent of his investment. However, many applauded the documentary, and a year later, the documentary won several domestic awards. With the praises he gained, he then shot two more award-winning documentaries, “Mr.” and “Shenzhen 30 Years.”

    “I made several documentaries focusing on some significant people and events, but I have been thinking about doing something related to ordinary people for years. Shenzhen is my second hometown. A lot of young people come and settle down here. They have money and time, so they find similar people on the Internet and do things together. Gradually, their interests have become nongovernment organizations. This is a great thing, like a name card for Shenzhen, so I try my best to promote them,” Deng said.

    “When we did ‘Shenzhen 30 Years,’ we read a lot of information and documents about Shenzhen and found that only a few were about the city’s ordinary people. Most of them were about government officials. Today’s reality is tomorrow’s future, so we think that we should record the stories of the ordinary people in Shenzhen, letting people in the future know what we had done,” Deng said.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)