A scene from 2009 documentary Last Train Home directed by Fan Lixin. Photo: Ya Nan
Chinese documentary Last Train Home, which features migrant workers' returning home during Spring Festival to see their families, premiered at Beijing's Broadway Cinematheque MOMA last weekend. Its release comes two years after the film directed by Fan Lixin was crowned Best Documentary at the 2009 International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. The film was shot over three years and followed Zhang Changhua, one of China's 243 million migrant workers, and his journey home for Spring Festival.
"By following Zhang and his family for three years, I hope to showcase the impact brought by great economic development to society as a whole, as well as to a single family," Fan explained.
The movie touched on many hotly debated topics in modern China, including leftover children and the differences in livelihoods between urban and rural dwellers.
It is the first time that the documentary has been screened in China on the big screen, aside from private screenings for critics
People can also watch the film on video sharing website Qiyi.com. "I know some people already watched the movie after illegally downloading it, but I still hope people will watch it on Qiyi.com or at the cinema out of respect for our effort in shooting the documentary," Fan said.
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