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RAI FILM Festival takes place on 27-30 March 2025. Learn more.

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Views from Heavenly Lake

Directed by Polly Vinken

2010 – 26'

Synopsis

Since the beginning of the Mao era in 1949, populations that were once nomadic, isolated by miles of desert and mountains across the Tian Shan ranges, are now becoming highly sought after objects of tourism, attracting thousands of Chinese and worldwide travellers each year. Views from Heavenly Lake positions its audience in an ‘idyllic’ location around the lake, which plays host to a colourful exploration into the different ways the tourists of Heavenly Lake ‘do’ tourism. Through such a placing we begin to uncover the everyday lived experience of a family of Kazakhs as voluntary objects of tourism.

RAI FILM Festival 2025

The next RAI FILM Festival will take place in person from 27-30 March 2025 at the Watershed Cinema and the Arnolfini International Centre for Contemporary Arts in Bristol (UK) and online throughout the month of April 2025.