AHEAD of the BRICS Summit 2023 to be held today in Johannesburg, South Africa, the trailer of “History Illuminates the Future: My Museum Story,” a documentary jointly produced by the five BRICS countries, has recently been released to show how local museums can reflect cultural diversity in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the chair country of the year.

Set to be distributed by China Global Television Network (CGTN) on its channels and platforms like YouTube, the upcoming production tell the stories of five unique museums in BRICS countries such as the world’s first museum dedicated to space culture — Russia’s Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics.

Aiming to walk viewers through BRICS countries’ “major contributions to the world’s human attainments,” the documentary, according to cultural sociologist Chu Xin, tries to show a particular story through each museum from the BRICS countries.

While the achievement of the world’s first human heart transplant surgery will be displayed through the story of the South African museum, the episode about China depicts the country’s 5,000 years of cultural consistency by introducing Hangzhou’s Liangzhu Museum. The episode will show the transformation of the Neolithic Liangzhu site’s beauty from a depiction of history to a presentation of modern aesthetics fulfilled in the Hangzhou Asian Games’ torch design.

The City Palace Museum and the Inhotim Museum will respectively appear in the Indian and Brazilian episodes, during which the importance of “sustainability” and “nature balance” in the cultural sector will be highlighted. The Indian museum is evidence of the sustainable use of a country’s cultural legacy as it dwells upon the 450-year-old palace. Compassing a botanical garden, Brazil’s Inhotim Museum is the world’s most famous outdoor art facility.

Chu said that there are differences with time and space, and these museums are highlights of the “deep roots of civilization” that gave birth to BRICS countries’ “localized cultural characteristics.”

“BRICS countries’ diversity and convergence are like the multi-colored radiance of a rainbow, Anil Sooklal, ambassador of Asia and BRICS at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, once said to describe the interaction between the five BRICS countries.

It was the first BRICS documentary co-production. Film and TV market insider Lu Jingci said that beside the friendship on display, the production also reveals a future “collaboration model” between BRICS countries in the entertainment industry.

(Global Times)