Smoke Signal Projects

on April 12, 2013

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We are an international team of documentary makers whose work is fuelled by a curiosity to tell compelling stories on film. We choose stories in which we have a unique and personal access and which we believe will contribute new perspectives to important societal issues. We create documentaries that are both poetic and complex, and at the core strive to be accessible to a wide audiences. 

Our documentaries surprise and move viewers through applying unique methods of production; we take the time it takes to make a good film. We like to dive deeply into a topic, get close to our characters and develop a unique style of image making to tell each story. Through finding the right people to collaborate with, we create a space for our documentaries to grow into unique and surprising experiences. 

In our role as producers we generate original ideas to a variety of partners and media. We understand ourselves as intermediaries who have a strong responsibility in sparking interest and finding financial support in order to create remarkable products. A key strength of our company is our presence in different countries which enables us to draw from a diversity of knowledge sources. Through our broad background, we can play an important role in connecting people and ideas over the world.

Moving House: Preserving Huizhou’s Vernacular Architecture

An Interview with Nancy Berliner

By Leah Thompson, Sun Yunfan on April 11, 2013

In 1996, art historian Nancy Berliner, working with the Peabody Essex Museum, purchased a vacant Qing dynasty merchant’s house from the Huizhou region of China and, piece by piece, moved it to the United States to be meticulously reconstructed at the museum in Massachusetts. Now, houses in the same graceful vernacular style are becoming collector’s items for China’s wealthy, who dismantle, relocate, and repurpose them, with little attention to their history.

Topics: 
Arts
History
Rural Life
Keywords: 
Anhui
Huizhou
Architecture
Historic Preservation
Nancy Berliner
Museums

There Goes the Neighborhood

Will a new craze for historic houses help protect China’s cultural heritage—or do just the opposite?

By Sun Yunfan & Leah Thompson on April 11, 2013

When, in 1996, art historian Nancy Berliner purchased a late Qing dynasty merchants’ house from Huangcun, a village in Anhui province, it was just one ordinary house among thousands like it in the picturesque Huizhou region of China. It took Berliner seven years to oversee the meticulous process of dismantling and shipping the house, called Yin Yu Tang, and then re-erecting it at the Peabody Essex museum in Salem, Massachusetts. A decade has passed since it was opened to the American public in 2003.