Stranded in Canton

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DVD / video

Title:	Stranded in Canton
Editor:	Månsson, Måns
Year:	2014
Language:	English
City of publisher:	Moscow
Publisher:	Antipode
Geographic terms:	Congo (Democratic Republic of) China
Subjects:	entrepreneurs international trade interpersonal relations culture contact migration feature films (form) videos (form)
External link:	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHw9vj0yOjY
Abstract:	Lebrun is a businessman who sees an opportunity. Together with his partner, the young Congolese has a batch of T-shirts printed in China so that people in the Democratic Republic of Congo can show they are fans of President Kabila. But when he goes to the Chinese city of Guangzhou (Canton) to pick them up, it turns out the production is delayed. Delayed so much that the elections have already passed. So the financier refuses to transfer the money and Lebrun is stuck in Guangzhou. As an alien in a strange country, Lebrun now hangs around the neon-lit metropolis and tries to think up a plan. What if they change the text on the T-shirts? Not pro-Kabila, but Fuck Kabila? Maybe there will be a market for that? This tragi-comic docu-fiction sketches the new relationship between China and Africa. Large numbers of Africans are moving to Southeast Asia to start a new life there. But, as the woman says with whom Lebrun has now fallen in love, the Chinese have a proverb: 'Fool the businessman, but don't kill him.' That leads to quite a lot of misunderstandings. [Abstract reproduced from dvd-video]