24 CITY (ER SHI SI CHENG JI)

Xina - 2008 - 35 mm, 107 min.

Director:
  JIA ZHANG-KE
Script: Jia Zhang-ke, Zhai Yongmin
Production: Xstream Pictures, China Resources, Shangai Film Group Corporation
Cast: Joan Chen, Zhao Tao, Lv Liping, Chen Jianbin
Section:
  AS-Asian Selection
Screenings:
Cines Aribau Club 2 - 02/05 - 20:00
Cine Rex - 05/05 - 20:30

Master chronicler of change in China, Jia Zhang-ke, continues to innovate his style. Documentary flows into fiction in 24 City, in which the demolition of a state-owned factory for a new development becomes a tool to reminisce on 50 years of modern Chinese history. The stories allude to major events, such as the forced migrations of the populace during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, while specific memories are flavored with precise period details like TV shows, movies and, above all, songs (the soundtrack by itself serves an aural history of Chinese pop culture). When narrating history, the boundary between fact and fiction can easily fade. Jia Zhang-ke emphasises this by allowing us, in five authentic and four fictional interviews (including actress Joan Chen), to become acquainted with the protagonists, who describe in long monologues their memories of the factory. Thanks to the fictional interviews, the film acquires a greater aesthetic and emotional element.

24 CITY24 CITY