WEIYENA – THE LONG MARCH HOME
Judith Benedikt, Weina Zhao | Austria, China 2019 | 96 Min. | OmeU
World Premiere
Weina Zhao lives in the city that she is named after – Vienna. She begins to deal with the history of China, the homeland of her parents – from Mao’s long march to the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution to modern times – and she starts to learn more and more about her parent’s families. Two families that couldn’t be more different: on the one side filmmakers in Shanghai in the 1930’s and on the other side poor farmers from the north.
Along Weina’s family stories, peppered with absurdly funny moments, Weiyena – The Long March Home unfolds a portrait of current China and its history touching on issues such as migration, identity and coping with the past.
Director: Judith Benedikt, Weina Zhao
Camera: Judith Benedikt
Edit: Birgit Foerster
Music: Andreas Hamza
Producer: Langbein & Partner
Biography Judith Benedikt
Judith Benedikt, born 1977 in Lienz, Austria. Studied image technology and camera and editing at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Department of Film and Television with Prof. Christian Berger in Vienna. Besides her studies she worked as a lighting technician with the CLRS lighting system. Since 2003 camerawoman for documentary and feature films.
Filmography
Inland, Kino (2019) Kino Doku
R/D: Ulli Gladik, K/C: Judith Benedikt, Elke Groen, Ulli Gladik
Devoti Tutti (2019) Kino Doku
R/D: Bernadette Wegenstein, K/C: Judith Benedikt, P/P: 1000 Rosen Filmproduktion
Die 3. Option (2017), Kino Doku,
R/D: Thomas Fürhapter, K/C: Judith Benedikt, P/P: Navigator Filmproduktion
CPH: DOX Competition 2017
Biography Weina Zhao
Weina Zhao was born in Peking in 1986, raised in Vienna and lived in between in Peru. After her master studies in sinology, she worked on different documentaries (as assistant director, production assistance, unit manager, translator). Since 2012 Zhao is directing and writing her own projects. 2017 she did a further training as screenwriter in the course “Storytelling – Grundlagen der Stoff- und Drehbuchentwicklung für Kino & TV“ (Storytelling – Fundamentals of material and screenplay development for cinemca and TV) with Arno Aschauer.
Filmography
Robolove (A 2019)
Kino-Doku/cinema documentary, 79 min, R/D: Maria Arlamovsky
Aufnahmeleitung/Set Manager
Das Fieber (A/D/CH 2019)
Kino-Doku/cinema documentary 99 min, R: Katharina Weingartner
Regie- und Produktionsassistenz, Aufnahmeleitung/ Assistant director, production assistant, set manager
CinéKino – Autriche (D 2017)
TV-Doku, Arte, R/D: Matthias Luthardt
Aufnahmeleitung/Set Manager
China Reverse (A 2014)
Kino-Doku/cinema documentary, 89 min, R/D: Judith Benedikt
Regie- und Produktionsassistenz, Aufnahmeleitung/ Assistant director, production assistant, set manager
Zuhause (A 2013)
Kurz-Doku/short documentary, 19 min, R/D: Nariman Mansouri und Weina Zhao
Regie, Kamera und Schnitt / Director, camera and editing
Young China & Austria Film 2013
