IN 2019, Malcolm Clarke, an Oscar-winning U.K. filmmaker, came to China for his third time to film a documentary about China’s path to achieving xiaokang, or a moderately prosperous society. When he wrapped up his third trip to the country, Clarke told the Global Times that each time he arrives, he has seen for himself China’s great breakthroughs: the reform and opening up, building the Chinese Dream and the completion of a moderately prosperous society.

Clarke, a British director in the film industry for over 40 years, has been good at projecting a panoramic view of society with individual stories, reflecting the relationship between the great times and the fate of ordinary people, and showing a strong spiritual core in short films.

Clarke’s latest documentary series, “A Long Cherished Dream,” reveals the stories of ordinary Chinese as they fight for happiness and a moderately prosperous society. The series launched on several channels and streaming platforms around the globe, including China Central Television (CCTV), Discovery in the U.S. and Sky TV in the U.K. on July 15.

This is not the first time that Clarke touched on Chinese themes. Three years ago, he explored how international politics affects the fate of ordinary people through “Better Angels.” In 2019, he revisited China and filmed “A Long Cherished Dream.”

Clarke said he is interested in exploring and telling Chinese stories, something he says few Westerners are willing to do because most of them do not understand what is happening in China.

The director said that too many people do not want to say anything positive about China and that there is a kind of global “holy war” against the country. “China has enemies that I do not even think they understand why they are China’s enemies,” Clarke noted.

The U.K. filmmaker, who has won several Emmy and Academy awards, said he is most interested in changing the heart and minds of Westerners who do not really understand China.

“I think it is hugely important to put a human face on the Chinese experience and on Chinese character to show that Chinese people are not actually that different from people anywhere else in the world,” he said.

Documentary “A Long Cherished Dream” consists of four episodes: “A Room of Their Own,” “Drive Like a Girl,” “Leap of Faith” and “The Tie That Binds.” The four “protagonists” of the series were not chosen because they were special but in fact because they were very ordinary, so their stories can represent those of hundreds of thousands of families all over rural China.

Main characters include a Party branch committee secretary who is devoted to lifting villagers out of poverty by helping them find jobs and a female truck driver who leaves her rural hometown to pursue economic independence while challenging gender stereotypes.

Some almost heroic efforts in the pursuit of a dream are depicted through people like an acrobat who has established his family in Shanghai, but still desperately tries to prolong his stage career, despite his age and physical pain. Alongside them are the express delivery entrepreneurs who have changed the path of their lives through years of hard work.

In Clarke’s eyes, these people represent four different stages of the process to achieve a xiaokang society. “Each film tells the story of Chinese people born into poverty whose lives are transformed by riding the wave of China’s historic economic renaissance,” Clarke says. “And, finally, in our fourth film, we tell the inspiring story of rural people who, after shaking off their lives of poverty and succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, are now using their resources to return to their hometown to help those people who had been ‘left behind.’”

Clarke has been known for his keen observation of ordinary people’s personal stories. In 1989, the short film about a young boy’s battle with cancer, “You Don’t Have to Die,” won him an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In 2013, the documentary, “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” about the oldest survivor of the Holocaust, brought him another golden Oscar statuette in the same category. In recent years, Clarke has switched his focus to making films about China.

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Publishing Group, which hosted the premiere, sees “A Long Cherished Dream” as a good example to capture vivid stories on film. “The documentary is based on materials from our daily lives,” Du says. “But it goes far beyond that and has shown the strong spirit and morale of the Chinese people.”

That spirit can win over a wider audience.

“The universality of their everyday lives and the journey of each respective character is made viscerally and poetically accessible for all to savor,” Vikram Channa, vice-president of Discovery Inc., says of the series.

“This is a special year for China, with the 100th anniversary of the CPC. The beating heart of its incredible achievements on that journey has always been about the hardworking, ordinary people, who make this country what it is. If you have truly experienced the length and breadth of this country, you know it’s what makes it such a wonderful place,” he says. “Series like ‘A Long Cherished Dream’ will go a long way in showcasing the real China to the world at a crucial time.”

(SD-Agencies)