Years after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s settled down, a Chinese woman sets out on a journey to be reunited with him.
Acting
Zhao Tao's face holds 20 years of waiting. No dialogue needed.
Direction
Jia's patience is the special effect. Real locations now demolished.
Editing
Footage from six different projects stitched into one love story.
Director
Jia Zhangke
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jia and Zhao Tao are married. He's been filming her since 1999, making this possibly cinema's longest-running on-screen collaboration between partners.
The flooded town Qiao Qiao searches through is real—Fengjie, demolished for the Three Gorges Dam, previously featured in Jia's Still Life (2006). He's been documenting China's disappearances for decades.
CN
