Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. The homes they seek are the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal cities. It is an epic spectacle that tells us much about China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic
dominance.
Last Train Home draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration. In classic cinema verité style, Last Train Home follows the Zhangs' attempts to change their daughter's course and repair their ruptured family. Intimate and candid, the film paints a human portrait of the dramatic changes sweeping China.
Director: Lixin Fan
Country: Canada
Language: Mandarin, with English subtitles
Friday, September 2, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 3, 2:00 (Matinee)
Best Documentary, Grand Jury Prize,
Los Angeles Asian-African Film Festival, 2010
Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010
Best Feature-length Documentary, IDFA, 2010
Best Documentary, Riverrun Film Festival, 2010
"...a beautifully shot, haunting and haunted large-scale portrait."
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
"That Last Train Home balances such impeccable compositions with its cultural context and humanistic content, however, is damn near a miracle."
Time Out
