PLEASE VOT FOR ME
By MICHELLE PASTER, Daily News Managing Editor
Never underestimate the power of children. In the
Chinese documentary, PLEASE VOTE FOR ME,
directed by Chen Weijun and produced by Cape
Town resident Don Edkins, Chinese eight-year old
elementary school children hold an experimental
democratic election. What ensues is a surprising
look into how serious these children endure
the process, from nomination to campaigning,
debates, and voting.
Edkins was interested from the beginning in a
film about contemporary democracy. He explains,
"We decided to make this film after meeting a
number of Chinese documentary filmmakers to
discuss their ideas for films; we really liked this
story." With a strong background in producing
documentary and short films by African filmmakers
for the Steps for The Future collection, Edkins
brought this experience with him into the long
period of pre-production and one month of filming
for PLEASE VOTE FOR ME.
The story centers on a democratic competition for
class monitor at Evergreen Primary School in the
highly populated town of Wuhan. It is the first of
its kind held in China. Luo Lei is the current class
monitor, originally appointed by the teacher competes
with two other students for the position - a boy, Cheng
Cheng and a girl, Xu Xiaofei. Their classmates judge
based on a talent show, a debate, and each candidate's
speech. This subset of democracy challenges China as
a whole and leaves the viewer to decide whether the
experiment works.
Independent Television Service (ITVS) based in
San Francisco and the Sundance Documentary Fund
helped to fund the film, in addition to broadcast
production funding.
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