Name: Act to Action: American filmmaker Joe Nafis on documenting Shanghai's rise and transformation
Uploaded: 2026-11-06T20:54:49+08:00
Duration: 4 min 29 s
Description: American filmmaker Joe Nafis called Shanghai home for 11 years, watching the city and the country transform in ways that changed his art and his life. Over four years, Nafis snapped an incredible 350,000 photos to document the construction

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American filmmaker Joe Nafis called Shanghai home for 11 years, watching the city and the country transform in ways that changed his art and his life.

Over four years, Nafis snapped an incredible 350,000 photos to document the construction of Shanghai Tower – a metaphor for China's growth. His lens caught the stark contrast in this growth, old structures coming down for new ones to rise from the ground.

For Nafis, who ran his own company in the Pudong Free Trade Zone, China is a source of inspiration. Today, he still speaks Chinese and plays tennis with his Chinese neighbors.

He's raring to return to China – camera in hand – for the next wave of change in life and the film industry.

04:30

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