Signed and Titled · Film
The Lab
The Lab is a short documentary I directed in 2009 about the underground hip-hop scene in China.
It follows one young man who has given his life to it. His journey starts with a 52-hour hard-seat train ride from Xinjiang, in China’s far west, to the Lab in Shanghai, where its founder, Gary Wang, was building a movement with no precedent in the country. The film is about a country with hip-hop stirring below its surface, and the lives carried in that rhythm.
Director: James Donovan. Assistant director: Kate Ray. Head writer: Russell Tepper. Post-production: Stephanie Harris. With thanks to Gary Wang and Liu Kai.