On September 10th, the UN, China Development Research Foundation (中国发展研究基金会), and Caixin Media (财新传媒) jointly released the trailer of the Virtual Reality documentary Kindergarten in a Mountain Village (山村里的幼儿园) during the Summer Davos Forum. The premiere of the full documentary is expected to be on October 21st at the Fourth Children and Anti-poverty Conference (儿童与反贫困大会). It will be the first ever VR Documentary in China and the fourth VR documentary by UN. During the Summer Davos Forum, the UN also showed their first VR documentary Cloud Over Sidra concerning the Syrian refugees.
The documentary focuses on the opportunities and challenges of solving the left-behind children problem in China. It was mainly shot in Songtao, Guizhou (贵州松桃) and Guzhang, Hunan(湖南古丈). Using VR technology, it demonstrates the lives of left-behind children, their migrant worker parents and volunteer teachers in rural areas. Gabo Arora, UN senior consultant and director of the documentary, explained that the audience are more likely to feel empathy for those children watching a VR documentary. Although the left-behind children may not lack material care, they suffer psychologically due to long-term separation from their parents. Gabo Arora wants to draw attention to those who are still behind and suffering despite the fast economic development in China.
