Entries for Magnolia Awards丨The Codes of Human Being’s Progress in Historical Documentaries

History, "objective" as described by science, also affords real clues to the thoughts and feelings of mankind. Yet, it never finds presence beyond the real world. All that we think about, the ways we think and whatever we achieve are all under the cloak of "history". Therefore, it becomes meaningful to research and study history. There is an array of excellent historical works among the entries for this year's Magnolia Awards, which interpret the historical stories of human being for the audience in an easy-to-understand and lively way.

LIANGZHU casts the lens on the ancient oriental country five thousand years ago; THE WARRING STATES PERIOD tries to uncover the secrets behind the rise and fall of the kings during the Warring States Period; DIG DEEPER·WORKING AT SANXINGDUI records faithfully the daily life of the archaeologists in Sanxingdui; LOST WORLDS AND HIDDEN TREASURES reveals the hidden facts during the excavation of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb; UNTOLD ARCTIC WARS tells the rarely known historical events on the Nordic ice and snow battlefield...

History bridges the gap between the past and the present, as well as that between the world today and the future. Knitted tightly with archaeological evidence and historical research, these works are chronicles of the footprints of human civilization, and witnesses, narrators and tellers of human history.

LIANGZHU

Country/Region: China

The four-episode documentary series LIANGZHU focuses on the Liangzhu culture in the late Neolithic period in China from 5,300 BC to 4,300 BC. Revolving around the theme of "Has the Chinese civilization really run for five thousand years?", it tells the archaeological excavation history of the Liangzhu cultural site for more than 80 years across three generations, leading the audience on to a journey to the "ancient eastern country" 5,000 years ago in exploration of the "Liangzhu Culture", which is the testimony to the 5000-year history of Chinese civilization.

This series resorts to a variety of shooting techniques such as two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation, real-shot evidence, field experiments and character interviews, to combine realism and freehand brushwork, history and modernity, science and culture, and create a channel that leads to the world five thousand years ago, becoming thus the "lesson of choice" for the audience to fully understand Liangzhu.

THE WARRING STATES PERIOD

Country/Region: China

The documentary of seven episodes THE WARRING STATES PERIOD reproduces the eve before Qin's destruction of the six kingdoms to rule the whole country. Interwoven with the stories of seven powerful men, it retraces that turbulent history, to depict the unparallel bloodiness of this era and explore the secrets behind the rise and fall. And looking for the valuable and brilliant genes of ancient Chinese, it takes the audience back to the toddler age of Chinese history.

This series adopts an unusual documentary form of "performance-based interpretation". Based on historical records, it digs deep into the famous historical figures of the Warring States period and attempts to restore and enrich them through vivid drama performance, bringing life to these powerful men in a limited length in an impressive way.

DIG DEEPER·WORKING AT SANXINGDUI

Country/Region: China

The Sanxingdui site is hailed as "one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of mankind in the 20th century", and was awarded the "Top Ten National New Archaeological Discoveries" in 2021. The five-episode documentary series DIG DEEPER·WORKING AT SANXINGDUI unfolds truly the unknown stories of archaeologists from multiple dimensions such as excavation, protection, restoration, research, the interaction between Sanxingdui civilization and contemporary society, and men’s reflections, to awaken people’s memory of that history.

This work zooms in on the daily work and life of archaeologists at Sanxingdui from a simple and down-to-earth perspective. When it comes to Sanxingdui, what occurs in people’s mind is no longer the iconic bronze mask alone, as archaeologists are trying to discover, excavate and interpret it in a deeper way, just as the title says: not only archeology, but also life, and future.

LOST WORLDS AND HIDDEN TREASURES

Country/Region: UK

On November 4, 1922, an archaeological team led by British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the entrance to the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The crew of the documentary LOST WORLDS AND HIDDEN TREASURES, led by BBC expert host Janina Ramirez, went deep into the ancient Egyptian tomb for the treasures in an immersive way, exploring the behind-the-scenes story of Howard Carter's excavation of the tomb, and unveiling a hidden history and facts.

Filmed from the perspective of the host Janina, this work is a journey of exploration about treasures and secrets recorded by various methods such as individual interviews, field investigations, and historical data research. The narration in great detail, and the onion-peeling story-telling together create a mysterious atmosphere for the story and characters, which arouses the audience’s curiosity and thinking.

UNTOLD ARCTIC WARS

Country/Region: Finland

The documentary UNTOLD ARCTIC WARS introduces the Arctic Wars that took place in World War II. In the unexpected harsh arctic environment, we followed divers to find the wreckage of a sunken German plane, investigated hidden mass graves with archaeologists, and tracked secret coastal fortresses, to discover the little-known historical events on the Nordic ice and snow battlefield.

This work provides new information on the events during World War II through interviews with international experts, field research and archival footage released for the first time. Using high-end CGI, animated maps, and colorful archival footage, it recaps the groundbreaking events on the ice and snow battlefields of Northern Europe, allowing the audience to look at World War II through a different perspective.

In-depth understanding of and meditation on history will unearth the significance of historical events to the present. There are laws for process of human beings, whose codes are right in what happened in the past.