Clarke's Chinese-themed documentaries include Better Angels that looks into the future of China and the United States through the eyes of ordinary people in both countries. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Some people call China's transformation the rise of China, but for me, it's actually the renaissance of China because, for many centuries, this country maintained the most sophisticated culture on the planet.

"It's really only in the last 200 years, under pressure from Western colonial powers that China's progress was thwarted. I think that now, however, China is rapidly re-establishing its rightful place as an innovative, exciting, technologically advanced country," says the filmmaker.

"One of the things I think China has yet to achieve, though, is a balance with the rest of the world, because the world still misunderstands China and, where misunderstandings exist, there is a place for fear to grow."

As a veteran storyteller, Clarke believes that finding an emotionally engaging way of telling stories about the Chinese people can help the rest of the world better understand the country.

"What is interesting about the Chinese way of making documentary films is that filmmakers often start with the written word, a script. Only after the script is written do they venture out and shoot images that fit what has been written." Clarke believes this approach inevitably excludes what to him is the richest aspect of documentary filmmaking: the spontaneity of events that happen on location "in the moment".