Luo Limei | 89 mins | China | 2009

Pabrik Indigo telah didirikan sejak dinasti Qing berdiri, pada tahun 1958, pemerintah membangun sebuah pabrik untuk orang-orang tuna netra sebagai jawaban atas pernyataan Mao “tuna netra harus mandiri”. Tahun 1959, pabrik ini pindah ke area Pabrik Indigo di Beijing. Selama 30 tahun berikutnya, sampai 300 keluarga tuna netra menetap pada masyarakat sebagai pekerja dan penduduk. Tetapi pada 2003, pabrik tuna netra ini ditutup dan para pekerjanya harus berpindah karena perkembangan area pabrik. Saat ini bekas area pabrik itu telah menjadi pusat bisnis di Beijing. Pusat-pusat perbelanjaan dan gedung perkantoran menggantikan gedung pabrik yang terisolir. Film ini merupakan potret intim beberapa anggota masyarakat yang telah menua. Indigo factory  juga memunculkan pertanyaan atas status sosial tentang keterbelakangan di Cina saat ini, juga hubungan antara sang pembuat film dengan subjek-subjeknya saat dia mendokumentasikan kehidupan sehari-hari di masyarakat ini.

The Indigo Factory was founded during the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, the government built a factory for the blind as a response to the call of Chairman Mao that “the blind should be independent.” In 1959, the factory moved into the Indigo Factory district in Beijing. For the next 30 years, up to 300 blind families settled into the community as workers and residents. But in 2003, the blind factory closed and workers had to leave as the area experienced increasing development. Now the former factory area has become an economic center for business in Beijing. Department stores and office buildings now shadow the formerly isolated factory buildings. The film is an intimate portrait of several aging members of the community and their families. Indigo Factory also raises questions about the social status of disability in contemporary China, as well as the relationship between the filmmaker and her subjects as she documents everyday life in the community.

Rabu | 7 Desember 2011 | 19.00 | Ruang Seminar