On Monday, September 22nd there was the Premier Screening of the Hotline Beijing Documentary Film in Los Angeles at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood. The documentary was a real time expose’ of the 12345 Public call line in Beijing. I heard about this call system some time ago but now I have a first-hand real time look at it in action.
This system is quite different from America’s 911 system. It is not just for emergencies although it served in that capacity during the pandemic and in the Beijing floods. 12345 System is set up for citizens of Beijing to call and express problems with a live operator and within the system it is set up uniquely for bringing solutions.
When an operator gets a call, they asses the problem and pass it to the right area of the system with a concept of, “we must work this out…”
Operators applying for work go through rigorous training and less than a third remain.
During its development, the 12345 system identified governments as operating in a vertical structure, while individuals within communities were considered to function in a horizontal manner. The 12345 system is structured bottom-up, unlike most top-down systems, and operates continuously. This presents an avenue for citizens to be directly involved in the governance of their city. The 12345 system highlights a universal theme of a society that cares for itself. Citizens who care for the city and place they live in. A specific theme of social and urban governance in a city of over 20 million in nothing short of amazing and this documentary caught everyday life in Beijing…real operators and real people not actors, dealing with agreements and disagreements and working for real solutions. Chinese Constitution states, “People First” and in Beijing 12345 takes this very seriously. Beijing residents know the laws and empower every citizen in governance.
One could only imagine this in America. Would this ever work in Los Angeles where they cannot even provide real-time solutions for fire victims?
The system is a collection of large data ending in a human conversation. Top tech and technology trained people with “Big Data and AI system that analyzes with amazing speed and quality results. It would be a real change, especially in America for this type of system, especially for insurance and health companies. Imagine making a call and getting to speak to a real person who not only hears your problem but initiates a group to provide a solution.
After the screening of the documentary a Q&A session was conducted with Kim R Holland as the moderator, Xu Jieqin, who is both the director of the film and the Director of the China Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio (Group), and Rance Pow.
Rance Pow who comes from California, stated his company looked at not contrasting differences but looking at similarities. Rance shared that their company is incredibly involved in research. Rance shared that China has a fast-moving popular commercial film market and the genre changes. They spent two months researching different angles of what the Hotline Service Provides and have extensive knowledge of the Chinese film market. Their research and conclusion were that Hotline Beijing is a worthy film for China audience. China market is moving away from Sci-fi and action films and looking for stories of modern everyday heroes. The timing was quite ideal for the Hotline Bejing film.
Director Xu Jieqin stated Chine Central Documentary Film Group is also looking for modern stories. She further shared that it was filmed in real time. Actual real calls. Chinese audience is more interested in real time and reality films. She shared that people came to the film because it deals with real citizens. I have reviewed many films in US and in other countries. In my opinion there was great Cinematography and rhythm which not all documentaries have.
The question from moderator Kim was asked how the film did in China. What were the box office numbers? The film did over 80 million RMB and was the top 3rd box office numbers in China.
Questions for Director
How many worked on this film? It was a small group of people who worked in tandem with The Hotline
How much footage was shot? 280 hours of footage
How long did it take to edit the film? It took 3 months to edit.
The last question was from the audience. At end of film, it asked how long will service last?
Citizen governance with the 12345 system will continue in Beijing as long as there are residents.
I have visited Beijing frequently and maintained an office there before the pandemic. I’ve visited numerous capital cities worldwide. In the opinion of the Modern-Day Marco Polo, Beijing is one of the great capital cities and this documentary was not only a quality storytelling but shows the 12345 system works for the people of Beijing.
