Harbin Ice and Snow World in December every year is an excellent place for people to appreciate the art of ice sculpture. The ice sculptures filled with ingenious ideas and elaborately built make people wonder, and also add icing on the cake to the winter beauty of the ice city. Who designed and made these ice sculptures? Where did so many ice cubes come from? In order to explore the story behind the exquisite art of ice sculpture, the documentary film "Building a Kingdom by Ice" went from "before" to "behind", and observed the moving parts of ice transportation and sculpture through the crystal clear of ice sculpture.
By the Propaganda Department of Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Propaganda Department of Harbin Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Heilongjiang Radio and Television Bureau and Heilongjiang Film Studio Co., Ltd., Qi Binying took four years to shoot, and recorded the real work and life of tens of thousands of workers in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. After the completion, the film has won many praises at home and abroad, and won the "Best Long Documentary Award" at the 2022 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and the "Best Documentary Film Award" at the 19th China-US Film Festival in 2023. On December 18th, The Kingdom of Ice will be shown by the National Federation of Arts, and roadshows will be held in Changchun, Shenyang, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Xi ‘an and Beijing, so that audiences from different regions can appreciate the charm of ice and snow.
Every documentary carries a certain social value, and the valuable thing about "Building a Kingdom by Ice" is that it sees "invisible pay". The gorgeous ice sculptures that attract people to come from everywhere and stop to enjoy them contain a lot of hard work behind them. The raw material of ice sculpture comes from Songhua River, the mother river of Harbin. The extremely low temperature has covered the river with thick ice. During the preparation of the ice sculpture, tens of thousands of workers gathered on Sun Island to collect a large amount of ice raw materials with their hands and simple tools. In just fifteen days, we have to prepare raw materials, transport, design and sculpt. Time is tight and the work is heavy, but everyone can always work together to complete the task. Most of these workers come from the surrounding areas. They farm in summer and work as "ice builders" in winter. They are busy day and night in cold weather, thus making a dream "ice kingdom" rise from the ground. The perseverance of these "ordinary people" and their simple desire to make life better have a subtle connection with exquisite ice sculptures. The beauty of ice sculpture is not only presented externally, but also adds deep meaning full of concern and imagination. "
Although the ice sculpture lasts only a few months every year, as a cultural card of a city, its condensed meaning can flow freely in the past and future, at home and abroad. Qi Binying’s hometown is Harbin. When she first saw the ice building scene, the colorful memories of her childhood instantly touched thousands of homesickness. As a unique civic culture, the ice sculpture, which was born in 1963, was built and enjoyed by ordinary people. People who were born and raised in Sri Lanka can relax and live poetically at the end of the year. In recent years, the design of ice sculptures has become more and more diverse: many professionals have participated in it, making ice sculptures into shapes with traditional cultural characteristics such as "Dashui Law", or building modern consumer places such as hot pot restaurants and bars in the ice city, in an effort to give visitors a better experience.
The 25th World of Ice and Snow in Harbin opened on the same day as the film. This year, the modern entertainment facilities based on ice and snow that appeared in "Building a Kingdom by Ice" are more colorful, and the entertainment projects are even more dazzling. The theme of this year’s World of Ice and Snow is "Dragon’s Snow and Winter", and it has been carefully designed in terms of art, entertainment, diet, sports and culture. Both adults and children can enjoy laughter and laughter in the world of ice and snow: delicious food in the snow, skiing experience, parent-child time, IP punching in online celebrity, ice performance … Rich activities will accompany tourists through important festivals such as New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, etc., with simple ice bricks in the hands of workers and countless people’s painstaking efforts, generate is full of endless fun and excitement.
Although ice is solidified, it carries cultural values and emotional meanings, but it is flowing through. Spring and winter have come, and abundant ice resources have nourished this northern city. After countless pairs of hard-working hands and countless ingenious minds, the ice cubes are carved into beautiful and moving ice sculptures, so that visitors can enjoy such a unique scenery of the North. After the filming, the film has been shown abroad for many times and won many awards. It has become a kaleidoscope of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and has also made more foreigners know the charm and style of Harbin.
Beautiful things always need to be recorded and written, and the shooting of "Building a Kingdom by Ice" is no less difficult than the process of taking and transporting ice itself. However, thanks to the ingenious and discerning director Rick, the story of ice sculpture and ice builders can be preserved and spread. In this sense, the beauty of ice sculpture on the realistic level is intertwined with the carefully shot film pictures, and a winter waltz is played with an extremely elegant gesture.
(Source: Beiqing Net)
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