Hanzi DVD (Home use)

From the producers of Design & Thinking and Maker, comes Hanzi, a new film that explores a different perspective on design. Three films are all funded on Kickstarter! Chinese is one of the oldest and most used languages in the world, yet it is perceived as difficult to learn. Furthermore, there has been a lack of discussion on Chinese typography and its transition into the digital era compared to its western counterparts. Recently there has been a renaissance and reviewing of Chinese characters in Asia and internationally, with typography and lettering books often topping the best selling books, and more and more typographical courses and workshops being held in the cities. We think that’s worth exploring to the discussion of design and cultural identity. Collaborating with filmmakers from New York, Hong Kong, London and Taipei, Hanzi includes interviews from ShaoLan, founder and creator of Chineasy in London; Akira Kobayashi, a Japanese renowned Roman font designer; Sammy Or, a veteran Chinese font designer based in Hong Kong; also Ri Xing Type Foundry, the last traditional Chinese letterpress type foundry in the world and more, gathering some of the most important figures and insight in the current Chinese education and typography field. This film is not just about Chinese characters, and we wanted to keep the ideas and messages applicable to all languages and cultures. Exploring universal subjects such as "How does language shape identity? What role does handwriting play in the digital age?”, Hanzi encourages audiences around the world to revisit and rethink their own culture, language and identity. Hanzi has been screening in film festivals, schools, and corporations! Visit SCREENING section for the screening list. Here are festivals that we've been selected: ★ 2017 Urban Nomad Film Festival - Closing film & Winner of Best film ★ 2017 Singapore A Design Film Festival - Opening Film ★ 2017 Sidewalk Film Festival - Official Selection ★ 2017 Bali International Film Festival - Official Selection ★ 2017 Providence Art & Design Film Festival - Official Selection About the team Since 2012, we have been extremely lucky to work on two documentaries that have created impact globally, Design & Thinking and Maker. Both films were crowdfunded on Kickstarter, distributed independently, and have gone to screen at schools and organizations all around the world, including Google, Twitter and Harvard University. Based in Asia and also constantly aware of what's happening around the world, we set out to make a film that's not just about Chinese typography. With our multicultural background, we’re grateful to have these interviewees coming from diverse fields and countries, to help us put together a broad view of what a language can present. Through making this film, we’ve gained a new perspective towards our own language and identity, and we hope audiences of any cultural background can have as much insight and reflection towards their own language and culture as we have. Interviewees from the film: (in alphabetical order) Akira Kobayashi: Japanese renowned Roman font designer Ash Henson: Co-founder of Outlier Linguistics Ally Cheng: Font Designer in Arphic Technology Co., Ltd Amanda Bogan: Student Of The ICLP learning program at National Taiwan University Edwina Lee: SCM Manager of Arphic Technology Co., Ltd Grace Yang: CEO of Arphic Technology Co., Ltd Gorong Tseng: Font Designer in justfont Ji-jie Ko: Co-author of "A Chinese Font Walk" Jiguan Chang: Owner of Ri Xing Type Foundry Joe Chang: Graphic/font designer Jong-yi Yeh: Founder of Oval Design Judy Lee: Head of font design of Arphic Technology Co., Ltd Kenzi Itakura & Shu Kanbayashi: Signage Artisans from Japan Michael Yeh: CEO/Founder of justfont Nikhil Sonnad: Reporter at Quartz Sammy Or: Font Designer ShaoLan Hsueh: CEO/Founder of Chineasy Winston Su: Community Manager of justfont