24 City

"The cherished hibiscus of 24 city, in full bloom. Chengdu shone and prospered". This poem opens and closes 24 City, accompanying the images of a disappearing world - the 240 arms factory - before resonating with the world that will replace it: a luxury housing complex. Between these two poles, Jia Zhang-Ke deploys a sophisticated testimonial device to evoke the social system of this very special "work unit" located in the heart of the city, from which it was nonetheless cut off, living in autarchy. Based on dozens of interviews conducted during the film shoot with workers at the "240", the director has created nine characters: five real people, whom he met and interviewed, and are retelling their original accounts, rewritten for the purpose; and four fictional characters (played by Joan Chen, Zhao Tao…) who compose authentic or synoptic testimonies in front of the camera. The deliberate hybridity of Jia Zhang-Ke's seventh film paints a portrait of a group that is as pared back as it is complex, concentrating in a single location the density of China's past, present and future, with a depth of memory spanning half a century. 

Emmanuel Chicon

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, 2020
Ash is Purest White, 2018
The Hedonists, 2016
Mountains May Depart, 2015
A Touch of Sin, 2013
Yulu, 2011
I Wish I Knew, 2010
Stories on Human Rights, 2008
Cry Me a River, 2008
24 City, 2008
Our Ten Years, 2007
Useless, 2007
Still Life, 2006
Dong, 2006
The World, 2004
Unknown Pleasures, 2002
The Condition of Dogs, 2001
In Public, 2001
Platform, 2000
Pickpocket, 1997
Du Du, 1996
Xiao Shan going Home, 1995