Doc/Fest - Sheffield

At once a time capsule and time machine, Chinese maverick turned master, Jia Zhang ke returns with one of the most fascinating films of the year. A beautifully crafted portrait of life in flux is recorded through the eyes of three generations of Chinese factory workers in the Chengdu province. Deftly weaving documentary into fictional narrative, eight subjects and ‘played characters’ relive personal accounts of working, living and loving in their version of China that is slowly disappearing. Today’s towering and soaring urban landscape is unrecognisable and its stunning backdrops, photographed by famed DP, Yu Likwai, are lonely ones but do they hold a place for the old guard? Chinese screen idol Joan Chen features in this stunning record of a country ‘smiling through its tears’