When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit.
Following a screening of Made in Ethiopia, co-directors Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan will be in conversation with ChinaFile Editor-in-Chief Susan Jakes, who was also an Executive Producer of the film.
Filmed over four years of intensive interviews and unique access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. The film has no victims and no villains. As the three women’s stories unfold, Made in Ethiopia challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, and the development of a country and the wellbeing of its people.
Speakers
Max Duncan (Co-Director, Co-Producer, Cinematographer) is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer, and journalist whose work has appeared on platforms including the BBC, PBS, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera. He worked for a decade in China, first as a video journalist for Reuters news agency in Beijing and then independently, exploring the country’s meteoric rise from many angles. He has since reported widely across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Duncan has won a World Press Photo Award, been supported by organizations including Pulitzer, and is an alumnus of Yaddo and Logan Nonfiction programs. Made in Ethiopia is his feature documentary debut.
Xinyan Yu (Co-Director, Co-Producer) is an Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker with nearly 15 years of experience crafting intimate, character-driven films across continents. From factory floors in rural Ethiopia to wildfire zones in Hawaii, she specializes in vérité and investigative storytelling that combines cinematic intimacy with journalistic rigor through a deeply human lens. A former BBC producer turned independent filmmaker, Xinyan has directed, produced, and shot documentaries for PBS Frontline, NOVA, American Masters, BBC News, and NHK. She is a New America National Fellow, a Firelight Media Doc Lab Fellow, and a Yaddo alum.
Susan Jakes is Editor-in-Chief of ChinaFile and a Senior Fellow at Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis. From 2000-2007, she reported on China for Time magazine as a reporter and editor based in Hong Kong and then as the magazine’s Beijing Correspondent. Jakes was awarded the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Young Journalist of the Year Award for her coverage of Chinese youth culture. In 2003, she broke the story of the Chinese government’s cover-up of the SARS epidemic in Beijing, for which she received a Henry Luce Public Service Award. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. Jakes speaks Mandarin and holds a B.A. and M.A. from Yale in history.
ChinaFile Presents: ‘Made in Ethiopia,’ a Film Screening and Discussion
Host
Mon, Oct 06, 06:00 PM - 08:30 PM (EDT)
To be shared on approval (New York)
40 attendees
When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit.
Following a screening of Made in Ethiopia, co-directors Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan will be in conversation with ChinaFile Editor-in-Chief Susan Jakes, who was also an Executive Producer of the film.
Filmed over four years of intensive interviews and unique access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. The film has no victims and no villains. As the three women’s stories unfold, Made in Ethiopia challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, and the development of a country and the wellbeing of its people.
Speakers
Max Duncan (Co-Director, Co-Producer, Cinematographer) is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer, and journalist whose work has appeared on platforms including the BBC, PBS, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera. He worked for a decade in China, first as a video journalist for Reuters news agency in Beijing and then independently, exploring the country’s meteoric rise from many angles. He has since reported widely across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Duncan has won a World Press Photo Award, been supported by organizations including Pulitzer, and is an alumnus of Yaddo and Logan Nonfiction programs. Made in Ethiopia is his feature documentary debut.
Xinyan Yu (Co-Director, Co-Producer) is an Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker with nearly 15 years of experience crafting intimate, character-driven films across continents. From factory floors in rural Ethiopia to wildfire zones in Hawaii, she specializes in vérité and investigative storytelling that combines cinematic intimacy with journalistic rigor through a deeply human lens. A former BBC producer turned independent filmmaker, Xinyan has directed, produced, and shot documentaries for PBS Frontline, NOVA, American Masters, BBC News, and NHK. She is a New America National Fellow, a Firelight Media Doc Lab Fellow, and a Yaddo alum.
Susan Jakes is Editor-in-Chief of ChinaFile and a Senior Fellow at Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis. From 2000-2007, she reported on China for Time magazine as a reporter and editor based in Hong Kong and then as the magazine’s Beijing Correspondent. Jakes was awarded the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Young Journalist of the Year Award for her coverage of Chinese youth culture. In 2003, she broke the story of the Chinese government’s cover-up of the SARS epidemic in Beijing, for which she received a Henry Luce Public Service Award. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. Jakes speaks Mandarin and holds a B.A. and M.A. from Yale in history.