Bringing King to China

{{Infobox film

| name = Bringing King to China

| image = Bringing King to China.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| director = Kevin McKiernan

| producer = Kevin McKiernan

| writer = Kevin McKiernan

| starring =

| music = Bronwen Jones

| cinematography = Kevin McKiernan
Haskell Wexler

| editing = Paul Alexander Juutilainen

| studio =

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|2011|01||USA}}

| runtime = 85 minutes

| country =

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Bringing King to China is a 2011 documentary film by Kevin McKiernan. The cinematographers include three-time Oscar-winner Haskell Wexler.{{Cite web |title=Haskell Wexler |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005549/ |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=IMDb}}

The documentary is "a father's 'love letter' to his adult daughter, a young American woman's year-long attempt to produce the international premiere of the American Clayborne Carson's play Passages of Martin Luther King on the stage of the National Theatre Company of China.{{Cite web |date=2009-12-14 |title=Beijing Doc: A Report on Nonfiction Filmmaking in China |url=https://www.documentary.org/feature/beijing-doc-report-nonfiction-filmmaking-china |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=International Documentary Association |language=en}} Her life is thrown into turmoil when she learns, mistakenly, that her father, a journalist covering the war in Iraq, has been killed by a suicide bomber."{{Cite web |title=Starr Forum: Bringing King to China (and MIT) a film screening |url=https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-bringing-king-china-and-mit-film-screening |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=}}

Bringing King to China conveys the lead character's "dream to build a bridge between the societies by talking about peaceful struggle and universal rights."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/world/asia/30beijing.html|title=Found in Translation: King's 'Dream' Plays in Beijing|last=French|first=Howard W.|date=2006-05-30|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-23|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} An American student who first studied in China in high school and later lived there on a Fulbright Scholarship, the lead character chronicles her struggle to interpret and adapt King's message for Chinese society, preserve the historical accuracy of the U.S. civil rights movement, clear bureaucratic hurdles before opening night and raise funds to pay the theater company.{{Cite web |title=Film on Cáitrín McKiernan '11 Premieres Jan. 30 in Santa Barbara |url=https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/film-on-caitrin-mckiernan-11-premieres-jan-30-in-santa-barbara/ |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=Berkeley Law |date=24 January 2011 |language=en-US}} The film takes American viewers backstage at the National Theatre Company of China, as Chinese actors rehearse with African-American gospel singers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bringingkingtochina.com/about.php|title=Bringing King to China - About the Film|website=Bringingkingtochina.com|access-date=2019-08-23}}

The film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival{{Cite web |title=Film on Cáitrín McKiernan '11 Premieres Jan. 30 in Santa Barbara |date=24 January 2011 |url=https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/film-on-caitrin-mckiernan-11-premieres-jan-30-in-santa-barbara/ |access-date=2022-11-04}} and won best documentary at the Ventura International Film Festival{{cite web |url=http://venturafilmfestival.org/awards |title=Awards - Ventura Film Festival |access-date=2011-09-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704004001/http://venturafilmfestival.org/awards/ |archive-date=2011-07-04 }} and the Tulsa International Film Festival.{{Cite web |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=283&articleid=20110926_283_D3_CUTLIN196828 |title=Tulsa International Film Festival winners announced | Tulsa World |access-date=2011-09-27 |archive-date=2012-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016175240/http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=283&articleid=20110926_283_D3_CUTLIN196828 |url-status=dead }} It was also nominated for the Viewfinders Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 DOC NYC Film Festival.

Commentators called the film timely,{{Cite web |last1=Love |first1=David A. |date=2011-07-13 |title=Dr. King Is Needed In China, Though His Work Isn't Done in America |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-king-needed-in-china_b_896943 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823094218/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-king-needed-in-china_b_896943 |archive-date=2019-08-23 |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} noting it premiered in the lead-up to the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.