Hudec: Building Shanghai
Documentary feature (USA/Hungary/France) 90 min.
Directors: Reka Pigniczky and Pierre-Olivier Francois
Production company: 56Films, Hungary

Synopsis

Hudec: Building Shanghai asks one question: can yesterday's buildings help understand today's China?

On the eve of the World Expo 2010, this is what many Chinese think. Historians, students, hotel managers, and tour guides in today's booming China rediscover the personal story of one European architect, L.E. Hudec, whose buildings, like the famous Park Hotel -- Asia's first skyscraper -- remain landmarks of Shanghai. Recently found archive materials from his family in Hungary – including original letters, photos and 16mm film – open a poetic journey into the past. And his children's first visit to China in 60 years bring Shanghai's "golden age" of the 1920's and 30's into the present.
 
This is a film about how one city can overcome time and history to regain its former glory.
 
Except now the Chinese are in charge.
 
For more information, please see www.56films.com