Directed by Lixin Fan
Each year the largest migration of people in human history happens over New Year’s in China, when city workers leave en masse for their hometowns in the countryside, often traveling days by train. For the first half of this remarkable documentary, you’ll wonder how the filmmaker even shot it. But as that wonder subsides, an absorbing drama develops—one that plays out among families all over China yet is universally intense, powerful, and heartbreaking.
With his 35mm camera, Lixin Fan follows one couple (out of one hundred and thirty million travelers!): the Zhangs, who are making the long and crowded journey to their rural village. Sixteen years ago, they left their now-teenage rebellious daughter with her grandparents—and the welcome is not a happy one. A Zeitgeist release.
“A deeply moving look at an unavoidably fractured family…Don’t miss it.” –Time Out New York
2009. Canada/China. 87 min.
SCREENING WITH
Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees – Directed by Samer Najari
Six immigrants eke out a living with humor. The bitter cold weakens the resolve of one, but not for long. 2009. Canada. 21 min.
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Thu Apr 1: 6:15 (MoMA)
Sat Apr 3: 12:00 (FSLC)
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Lixin Fan was born and raised in China. After traveling the country as a journalist and witnessing the inequality caused by rapid economic expansion, he was inspired to become a documentary filmmaker. In 2003, he edited the award-winning To Live Is Better Than to Die, recognized as one of the most shocking documentaries on the topic of China’s AIDS epidemic. In 2006 he was an associate producer on Up the Yangtze, a documentary about the Three Gorges Dam project. Last Train Home, his debut full-length documentary, won the Joris Ivens Award at IDFA 2009, was featured in the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and won the top prizes at RIDM (Montreal) and the Whistler International Film Festival.
