Last Train Home (film)
Encyclopedia
Last Train Home is a 2009 documentary film
directed by Lixin Fan
and produced by Daniel Cross
and Mila Aung-Thwin
of EyeSteelFilm
. Last Train Home won the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA and will be distributed by Zeitgeist Films
in the US territory.
Working over several years in classic cinéma vérité
style, director Lixin Fan travelled with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like many of China's rural poor, the Zhangs have left their native village of Huilong in Sichuan
province and their newborn daughter to find work in Guangzhou
in a garment factory for 16 years and see her only once a year during the Spring Festival. Their daughter Qin, now a restless and rebellious teenager- bitterly resents her parents' absence and longs for her own freedom away from school and her rural hometown, much to the dismay of her parents. She eventually leaves school, against the wishes of her parents, to work in the city. Emotionally charged and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home examines one fractured family to shed light on the human cost of China's ascendence as an economic superpower.
In a March 2010 follow-up interview, director Lixin Fan
reveals that the Zhangs are still working in the factory and Qin telephoned, but did not visit, for the New Year. More recently, in September 2011, Fan said that Qin was now a student in Beijing, and that while Qin's mother is back on the farm, her father still works at the factory.
, earning the Golden Tomato award for best limited-release and best foreign film.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times
picked Last Train Home as one of the most outstanding works from the 2010 Sundance by characterizing it as "a beautifully shot, haunting and haunted large scale portrait."
Film critic Roger Ebert
praised the film for its depiction of conflict in one family as they struggle to improve their quality of life; giving the film four out of four stars. He concluded that due to the film's depiction of the effects of capitalism
on the country that "[t]he rulers of China may someday regret that they distributed the works of Marx
so generously."
Praising Last Train Home as "a documentary masterpiece," Brian Brooks of IndieWIRE
asserts that "filmmaker Lixin Fan may very well be one of modern-day China's great non-fiction storytellers."
Critics of IndieWIRE placed Last Train Home at "top four" in its list of Top Ten Competition Films of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Last Train Home is one of the top five films nominated for Directors Guild of America Documentary Prize to be announced Jan 29, 2011 at the 63rd annual DGA Awards Dinner. It lost this award to Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job."
Lixin Fan was interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti
, host of CBC radio program "The Current"
, on Jan 19th, 2011 talking about Last Train Home.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan is a Montreal, Canada-based documentary film director with the Canadian production company EyeSteelFilm and previously a producer/journalist at China’s state broadcaster CCTV.Lixin's debut feature documentary Last Train Home won several awards...
and produced by Daniel Cross
Daniel Cross (filmmaker)
Daniel Cross a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.He is co-founder of EyeSteelFilm with fellow director/producer Mila Aung-Thwin. He is the president of the company...
and Mila Aung-Thwin
Mila Aung-Thwin
Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.He had a multi-disciplinary education in arts, journalism, and photography. In 1998, he met his fellow director/producer Daniel Cross and co-founded with him EyeSteelFilm specilaizing in...
of EyeSteelFilm
EyeSteelFilm
EyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company founded and co-owned by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression...
. Last Train Home won the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA and will be distributed by Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films is an American independent film distributor based in New York City founded in 1988 by co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo. Films distributed by Zeitgeist are strongly auteur-driven by directors such as Christopher Nolan, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, Todd Haynes, Nuri Bilge...
in the US territory.
Synopsis
Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers travel back to their home villages for the New Year's holiday. This mass exodus is the world's largest human migration, an epic spectacle that exposes a nation tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future.Working over several years in classic cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
style, director Lixin Fan travelled with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like many of China's rural poor, the Zhangs have left their native village of Huilong in Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
province and their newborn daughter to find work in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in a garment factory for 16 years and see her only once a year during the Spring Festival. Their daughter Qin, now a restless and rebellious teenager- bitterly resents her parents' absence and longs for her own freedom away from school and her rural hometown, much to the dismay of her parents. She eventually leaves school, against the wishes of her parents, to work in the city. Emotionally charged and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home examines one fractured family to shed light on the human cost of China's ascendence as an economic superpower.
In a March 2010 follow-up interview, director Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan is a Montreal, Canada-based documentary film director with the Canadian production company EyeSteelFilm and previously a producer/journalist at China’s state broadcaster CCTV.Lixin's debut feature documentary Last Train Home won several awards...
reveals that the Zhangs are still working in the factory and Qin telephoned, but did not visit, for the New Year. More recently, in September 2011, Fan said that Qin was now a student in Beijing, and that while Qin's mother is back on the farm, her father still works at the factory.
Cast
- Yang Zhang as himself
- Changhua Zhang as himself
- Suqin Chen as herself
- Qin Zhang as herself
Awards
- 2009: Won Best Feature Documentary at the 22nd annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
- 2009: Won Cinémathèque Québécoise Best Quebec film award at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de MontréalRencontres internationales du documentaire de MontréalRencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal also known by the acronym RIDM is Montreal, Canada's international documentary film festival....
(RIDM) - 2010: Won Golden Gate AwardGolden Gate AwardGolden Gate Award may refer to:* A film award at the San Francisco International Film Festival* An award part of the GLAAD Media Awards...
in the Investigative Documentary Feature Category at the San Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
(SFiFF) - 2010: Official Selection at Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
- 2010: Official Selection at New Directors/New Films
- 2010: Won Best Documentary Feature at the RiverRun International Film FestivalRiverRun International Film FestivalThe RiverRun International Film Festival is a regional film festival held annually each spring in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The festival is a 5013 non-profit organization and presents a variety of feature-length and short films from all genres, and also presents special events, regional...
Reception
Last Train Home is certified "fresh" with a 100% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, earning the Golden Tomato award for best limited-release and best foreign film.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
picked Last Train Home as one of the most outstanding works from the 2010 Sundance by characterizing it as "a beautifully shot, haunting and haunted large scale portrait."
Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
praised the film for its depiction of conflict in one family as they struggle to improve their quality of life; giving the film four out of four stars. He concluded that due to the film's depiction of the effects of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
on the country that "[t]he rulers of China may someday regret that they distributed the works of Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
so generously."
Praising Last Train Home as "a documentary masterpiece," Brian Brooks of IndieWIRE
IndieWire
indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
asserts that "filmmaker Lixin Fan may very well be one of modern-day China's great non-fiction storytellers."
Critics of IndieWIRE placed Last Train Home at "top four" in its list of Top Ten Competition Films of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Last Train Home is one of the top five films nominated for Directors Guild of America Documentary Prize to be announced Jan 29, 2011 at the 63rd annual DGA Awards Dinner. It lost this award to Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job."
Lixin Fan was interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti
Anna Maria Tremonti
Anna Maria Tremonti is a Canadian radio and television journalist, who has been featured on a variety of programs on the CBC.She has previously been a senior reporter for The National, and a host of The Fifth Estate...
, host of CBC radio program "The Current"
The Current (radio program)
The Current is a Canadian current affairs radio program, hosted by investigative reporter Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC Radio One. It airs weekdays starting at 8:37 a.m. local time and runs until 10 a.m. for most of the year, although during the summer the program airs until 9:30 a.m...
, on Jan 19th, 2011 talking about Last Train Home.
External links
- Last Train Home at EyeSteelFilmEyeSteelFilmEyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company founded and co-owned by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression...
- NPR Movie Review