29 Nov. 2006, Prof. Asen Balikci and Ms. Anna Balikci-Denjongpa, both of whom are well-known anthropological filmmakers, visited UIC and each gave a guest lecture here. They said they had a good time in Zhuhai, too.
Prof. Asen Balikci is from the University of Montreal. He has been the leading Canadian anthropological filmmaker for the past forty years, working in Canada, Afghanistan, Siberia, the Balkans and elsewhere. Ms. Anna Balikci-Denjongpa is from the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, in Sikkim, India. She is a talented documentarist, too, who works in the Himalaya Mountains near Tibet.
The guests arrived at the International Centre at noon and were received by the Executive Vice-President of UIC, Prof. S.T. Kwok, and the Acting Dean of Humanities and Social Science, Prof. Paul Hockings. They had lunch together and, during the lunch, Prof. Kwok introduced the educational ideal and approach of
UIC and expressed his sincere wish to have these two guests come here to teach in future, perhaps in a summer school. Prof. Kwok also mentioned the Articulation Programme and Student Exchange Programme we offer at UIC, which the guests were very interested in.
After the lunch, the guests were brought to the Dr. Sun Yat- Sen Memorial Residence Museum. They visited the memorial residence with great interest. As they are anthropologists, they are especially interested in lifestyles in different countries, China included. They were all surprised that the village where Dr. Sun Yet-Sen used to live was preserved so well after so many years.
Their first lecture was held from 8.00pm to 10.00pm on Nov. 29, and the second one was from 3.00pm to 6.00pm on Nov. 30.They presented a programme of several documentary films they had made in Canada, Siberia and Sikkim, and also talked about their projects in creating local filmmakers in Siberia, India, Bulgaria, etc. A good attendance showed that the students appreciated by their films.
The guests went to Putuo temple on Nov. 30 in the early morning as they are both interested in Buddhism. Prof. Hockings introduced the sights along the way to the temple and also the features of the temple. They all had a nice trip in Zhuhai and later had an enjoyable dinner on Qi Ao Island with our Social Science faculty as well as foreign guests from India, Bangladesh and Denmark who had come for the International Conference on Social Work. The guests stated that they really had a good time on the beautiful beach, having dinner with people of similar interests.
The guests left UIC for Hong Kong on 1st Dec. They indicated that they would like to come again in future if there is any chance.
