People's Park

Co-directors: Libbie D. Cohn, J.P. Sniadecki
Camera, Sound: Libbie D. Cohn, J.P. Sniadecki
Production Assistant: Ouyang Xiaodong
Post-production Image: Julien Bisschop
Post-production Sound Mix: Ernst Karel
Made with the support of: Steve Burwell, Jeffrey Coomes and Zhang Jingqing, Obio Ntia, The Sandri Family, Joan Sniadecki, Brian and Letha Tawney

Festivals

• 2012 Locarno International Film Festival
• 2012 Beijing Independent Film Festival
• 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival
• 2012 DocLisboa
• 2012 VIENNALE
• 2012 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
• 2012 Festival dei Popoli
• 2012 Mar del Plata International Film Festival
• 2012 China Independent Film Festival
• 2013 Jeonju International Film Festival
• 2013 Munich International Film Festival
• Gian Paolo “Best Anthropological Film” Award – Festival dei Popoli

Spanish premiere

"A walk through the park like no other, this brilliantly joyous conceptual documentary takes the vivid reality of an urban park: People’s Park in Chengdu, Sichuan. Directors Libbie Cohn and J.P. Sniadecki use an utterly unique and perfectly apposite method of filming: they shoot their tour of the park in one continuous tracking shot. No cuts, no edits. Their camera, as it pans side to side and glides relentlessly forward, catches hundreds of Chinese urbanites out for fun, relaxation, socializing and freedom: eating, strolling, singing, practicing calligraphy, dancing and watching each other. And being watched (by us) in a way that, though it may start out with what feels like unadorned observation, slowly gathers a kind of ecstatic, trance-like groove, building to a rapturous climax, as people, movement, music, image and sound dance together: this is as close to pure pleasure as cinema can provide”.

Shelly Kracier, Vancouver International Film Festival