Hanzi

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Culture Documentary hosted by cast themselves, published by Muris in 2016 - Chinese narration

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Hanzi is a documentary exploring international design, visual culture and identity through the lens of modern Chinese typography. From the producers of Design & Thinking and Maker, comes Hanzi, a new film that explores a different perspective on design. Three films are all funded on Kickstarter!

Chinese is one of the oldest and most used languages in the world, yet it is perceived as difficult to learn. Furthermore, there has been a lack of discussion on Chinese typography and its transition into the digital era compared to its western counterparts. Recently there has been a renaissance and reviewing of Chinese characters in Asia and internationally, with typography and lettering books often topping the best selling books, and more and more typographical courses and workshops being held in the cities. We think thats worth exploring to the discussion of design and cultural identity.

Collaborating with filmmakers from New York, Hong Kong, London and Taipei, Hanzi includes interviews from ShaoLan, founder and creator of Chineasy in London; Akira Kobayashi, a Japanese renowned Roman font designer; Sammy Or, a veteran Chinese font designer based in Hong Kong; also Ri Xing Type Foundry, the last traditional Chinese letterpress type foundry in the world and more, gathering some of the most important figures and insight in the current Chinese education and typography field.

This film is not just about Chinese characters, and we wanted to keep the ideas and messages applicable to all languages and cultures. Exploring universal subjects such as "How does language shape identity? What role does handwriting play in the digital age?, Hanzi encourages audiences around the world to revisit and rethink their own culture, language and identity.