Southbank Centre, London.
Saturday 16th Deember, 2016 at 7.45
The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall
Free of charge.
Celebrate the spirit and legacy of the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) – the largest overseas labour force to help the Allies win World War I – in these films and live performances. 100 years ago, the British and French armies recruited 140,000 Chinese men to work behind the Western Front.
Heroes Within
by Julia Cheng, Lavin Lee, Andy Leung, Connor Wan, Ricky Payne, lula.xyz, Claire Nicholas, Dina Ahmed
A young Chinese woman discovers her ancestral contribution to Allied success in this music, dance and spoken word film. Animation peels back the layers of the painting, Panthéon de la Guerre, when the CLC were ‘painted out’ of history to make room for American soldiers.
Missing Parts
By Lucia Tong, Angelus Squid Marr, Cheng Yu, Sonja Perreten, King San Lo, Charlie Taillard, Robin Harvey
Contemporary dancers supported by a community cast explore distant journeys, monotony and nostalgia, in homage to the CLC who became essential cogs in the war efforts. Specially composed music creates a soundscape via recording and live performance on piano and pipa.
Lunar Corps
by Quang Kien Van, Suki Mok, Ruth Chan, Ruta Irbite
From labyrinthine warrens of lost memory, the stories and bodies of the CLC are excavated and brought into blazing light. This vivid dance-music film is a sensorial awakening to remember the forgotten.
Song Unsung
by David KS Tse, Kumiko Mendl, Chris Chan, Beibei Wang, Matthew Leonhart, Windson Liong, Candy Ma, Cherrie Lau
Singer-actors supported by local community choir members weave together Chinese folk and English World War I songs, with a moving drama focused on two men separated from family, lovers and friends due to the war.