【推荐1】Though trees cannot speak verbally, Evan Luchkow, a 32-year-old Canadian filmmaker, made ancient tea trees the protagonists (主角) in his latest film, The Tree Listens, allowing them to “tell” their story about interacting with the locals in Chashu Village, Southwest China’s Chongqing.

When the Canadian stepped into the village, surprises kept coming. The luxuriant local tea trees are so tall that people need ladders to pick their leaves. The harmonious coexistence of people and nature in the village also struck him. “In Canada, the preservation of nature sometimes keeps people separated from it. On our way into this village, I saw lots of houses cradled by these mountains, which was truly surprising, says Luchkow, adding that the view was just like a postcard.

Soon he was able to set the tone for the filming, which depicts a silent dialogue between trees and people. For thousands of years, from generation to generation, the tea trees have been receiving people’s care and protection. “I think if the trees could speak, they might want to deliver their gratitude to the villagers. That’s what I tried to express via the film,” says the director.

In the process of documenting the tea village’s history, Luchkow found that the well-known Canadian coffee brand Tim Hortons had extended its footprint to Chongqing. Wu Ke, one of the many young locals who choose to stay in their hometown to make tea, finds himself gradually fall in love with coffee too. While local Chinese take to coffee nowadays, Luchkow’s friends back in Canada enjoy Chinese tea a lot. “The communication between tea and coffee is like the exchanges between people,” he says.

【推荐2】Lights, camera, action! Have you ever dreamed of being a director? At age 29, Di Di already has almost 10 years of directing experience. Through the media company he founded, he makes advertising and promotional videos, including for Tsinghua University, his alma mater (母校).

For Di, becoming a director is an adventure based on interest. Majoring in journalism, he got into directing by chance. “In 2016,I came up with an idea for Tsinghua’s admissions(招生)video but couldn’t find a director,” Di said. “so I decided to be the director myself! I ended up really enjoying the process of being creative and working with a team. That was when I knew I wanted to be a director.”

While many people think that directors are experts at art, Di found that directors are, in fact, experts at management. “Only one-third of my time is spent on set. The rest of the time, I’m doing lots of planning with my clients and co-workers.” he said. This planning process includes working out the video’s theme with the client, creating a play, bringing together the visuals and text content, and also managing logistics (后勤) like where to park the cars and how to bring electricity to the set.

“Filming is an industry of high costs. Even short advertisements cost a lot of money per day. Any incident could result in the failure of the project, such as bad weather or the main character not turning up. You have to be quick to respond to any problems,” Di said. Despite the pressure, Di gets great joy from making an impact through his works. In 2019, he made a film for Tsinghua, which tells the story of a group of first-generation college students-the first to go to university in their families. It was viewed more than 15 million times on social media and became a hot top 20 trending topic on Sina Weibo. Being a first-generation college student himself, Di felt very passionate about the video’s goal of inspiring students to use their education to make a better life for their families. One month before the national college entrance exam in2020, Di released a feature film encouraging high school students to keep working hard after the exam was pushed back by one month.

【推荐3】Disney finally has its first young plus-size heroine, and fans across the internet are in high spirits.

“Reflect” is a short film now on Disney about a young ballet dancer named Bianca who struggles with her body image. In the short, Bianca doesn’t want to but has to look at herself in the mirror, checking her posture. Always feeling depressed to find herself fatty and ugly, she almost gives up dancing ballet. Though body positivity and self-acceptance can be easier said than done, eventually, she overcome her negative feelings and dance freely.

Though the film was first released on the platform in September, many social media users are now celebrating “Reflect” as a win for representation among the young.

“16 year old me needed this Disney short before I quit ballet because I didn’t want to be the fat girl in class anymore,” one user on Twitter said. “I’m glad little ones will have this. 10/10 for Reflect!”. “I don’t think you all comprehend, this is my Ariel,” a TikTok user said in a video, titled “Disney, you really got me in my feelings.”

Making the film from the perspective of a dancer, director Hillary Bradfield explained, felt natural. “When people watch the short, I hope that they can feel more positively about themselves and how they look, and feel okay about the tough parts of their journey,” Bradfield said. “Sometimes you go to the dark place to get to the good place. And that just makes the good place that much more beautiful.”

【推荐2】National Geographic Nights

Every month National Geographic opens its doors for a night of fun and exploration. These special monthly happy hours feature live stories from National Geographic Explorers, fun activities, lively music, food, and drink specials at our cash bar. Your ticket includes free admission to the National Geographic Museum, starting from the day of the event and expiring (终止) at the end of that month.

Monthly on the third Thursday

5: 30 PM — 8: 00 PM

View From Above

Sometimes, a little distance is all you need to see things in a brand-new way. For astronaut Terry Virts, his new found perspective (视角) was from the International Space Station. He took more photographs than any astronaut who had come before him. Many of those images were later used to create the National Geographic book View From Above and IMAX film A Beautiful Planet.

November 14

7:30 PM — 9:00 PM

$25. 00

Adventures Among Orangutans (猩猩)

Animals fond of being alone often live in hard-to-reach places. Orangutans are one of the most difficult large land animals to study. Since 1992, biological anthropologist Cheryl Knott and wildlife photojournalist Tim Laman have been using innovative techniques and new technologies to gain a closer look at this intelligent, resourceful and threatened species, giving us deep understanding of not only their world, but also our own. Come to listen to their speech!

December 7

10:00 AM — 11:30 AM

$5. 00

Mountainfilm On Tour

Mountainfilm On Tour returns to D. C.! Over two unique evenings, enjoy a rich selection of films from this year’s festival in Telluride, CO. Started in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of America’s longest-running film festivals. Through the years, in and out of trends, the festival has always been best described by one unchanging word: inspiring. Far more than any other adjective, that’s how audiences describe their experience.

November 3 — November 4

7:30 PM — 10:30 PM

$25. 00