China Love (2018)

Just over 40 years ago, marriages were arranged by the state in China. Romantic love is regarded as a capitalist concept and is not allowed during this period. Wedding photography (if any) includes a black-and-white passport photo of a couple (dressed in Maoist costumes) as proof of marriage. Now, China has fallen in love with love, and its booming wedding industry is worth 80 billion dollars and is on the rise. Premarital photography is one of the most important and curious parts of the industry. Every couple married in China will take part in the pre-wedding shoot. It involves several clothing and background changes, in which you can choose any imaginary character. For most exotic residences, couples pay a maximum of A $250000. Taking pictures before the wedding has become an important national habit. They proved marriage, but now they also prove love, romance, freedom, status, money and the new Chinese Dream. As an immigrant living in Shanghai and a Chinese with a long history, photographer Olivia Martin McGuire (Olivia Martin-McGuire) is fascinated by the dream of dream in this booming photography world. Once she began to delve into this new tradition, she found a unique window into China. A country shows the dream of a country, a country is developing rapidly, and a country rebuilds the trauma of the past from its own perspective. "Love in China" takes us on a long journey to gain an in-depth understanding of the warmth of Chinese family networks, into the hearts of the characters, into their personal dreams, and to understand the origins and reasons of these wishes. Through its restrictive and highly traditional past, the project explores China's new status as a global country-asking what the new "Chinese Dream" is when it comes to love through the window of the booming wedding industry.