Dunhuang and Venice: a new documentary about two cities along the Silk Road

Ca' Foscari and the Dunhuang Research Academy provided academic support for the documentary and participated in the production and filming of the series. Several members of our teaching and research staff took part, including Rector Tiziana Lippiello and Prof. Luciano Pezzolo of the Department of Humanities.

The documentary grew out of the exhibition "The Jewel of the Silk Road: the Buddhist Art of Dunhuang", which was mounted at Ca' Foscari in 2018. Within the framework of the memorandum of cooperation signed by the Dunhuang Research Academy, the Dunhuang Cultural Promotion Foundation, Ca' Foscari and the Fondazione Ca' Foscari, the exhibition aimed at providing a broader context for cultural exchange between East and West. The exhibition was a great success, bringing the fascination of the art of Dunhuang from 1,600 years ago all the way to Italy. The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella visited the exhibition the day before the opening.   

Whereas Venice is an archipelago of islands in a lagoon, Dunhuang is an oasis in the Gobi Desert. The two natural environments are extremely different. The two places are also separated by 6,400 kilometres. Besides the distance in space, there is also a gap in time. When Dunhuang was prosperous, Venice did not yet exist. When Venice began to rise, Dunhuang's light had dimmed. However, the two also have much in common, mainly the creative way human beings interact with their environment, as well as their use of land and sea: it is a vital exchange of human values; as crystallisations of the human spirit, they are both tangible and intangible sources of traditions, ideas, beliefs and literature. 

Director Wang Zhe and her team spent six years searching for echoes and connections between civilisations thousands of miles apart in Venice and Dunhuang; in dozens of museums and art galleries, among cultural relics collected by libraries and other related institutions, tens of thousands of historical materials in more than 10 languages have been used to decipher the codes for interpreting the two cities in an effort to restore a part of their appearance and memory and to explore their urban spirit. The documentary also incorporates interviews with more than 40 people in the academic, professional and art contexts from around the world. 

Combining realistic narratives with a poetic visual language, the documentary presents an overview of the history, choices, opportunities and challenges faced by the two cities, marking a milestone of urban civilisation in human history.