Filmed with almost voyeuristic style, its hard not to want to turn away when you see the eyes of those being filmed glaring back at you as if daring you to look hard at the. Last train home is a heartbreaking documentary about migrant workers in china who number about million. It won the best documentary feature at the 2009 international documentary film festival amsterdam and has been distributed by zeitgeist films in the us. Emotionally engaging and starkly beautiful, last train homes intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of. An official selection of the 2010 sundance film festival. Its one of those extraordinary films, like hoop dreams, that tells a story the makers. Filmmaker lixin fan follows changhua and suqin over the course of several years in the documentary last train home, as the couple makes the long journey home over a thousand miles only to find that their family is slowly falling apart 16yearold qin and her younger brother, yang, are all but strangers now to their parents, and the. Nov 25, 2009 praise for last train home was immediate this week at idfa, with rumors swirling that the film is headed for the sundance film festival in january.
Sep 14, 2010 filmmaker lixin fans last train home documents the journey million migrant workers make back to their rural villages every chinese new year. It is a documentary of one migrant family and the sad realities of life in sweat shop china. Then lixin narrows his focus to one married couple. Find out where last train home is streaming, if last train home is on netflix, and get news and updates, on decider. Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train.
Rent last train home 2009 starring changhua zhan and suqin chen on dvd and bluray. Lixin fan records factory workers family in china the new. Watch last train home 2010 full movie free online streaming. If the filmmakers had stopped with just the aweinspiring crowd footage of all of them.
Last train home full frame documentary film festival. Each year in china more than million migrant workers travel home for the new years holidaythe one time theyll reunite with family all. Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos as million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the new year in the worlds largest human. I guarantee that if you see it you will from that time forward read all news. Last train home complements yung changs up the yangtze also produced by mila aungthwin, and also the work, both fictional and non. Last train home was released on american screens on september 3, 2010. Lixin fan is a socialpolitical documentary filmmaker. Last train home reveals a nation tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future. Chinese documentary following two migrant worker parents who, along with million others, annually return to their rural home and children for a fleeting holiday after a year working in factories. Zhang changhua and his wife, chen suqin, are alltootypical chinese migrant workers who labor together in a. It follows a typical migrant worker family over a threeyear period. As much as last train home chronicles the zhang parents toiling behind sewing machines or washing their feet in the cubby they call living quarters, while their kids back home pick corn and otherwise work a small garden, the film is obviously about the larger issue surrounding split families and lack of income among chinas rural working poor. In this madeforcable family drama set in the 1880s, a teen and his dog set out on a crosscountry journey to find the boys father, who escaped. Its one of those extraordinary films, like hoop dreams, that tells a story the makers could not possibly have anticipated in advance.
Last train home film platform educational rights and. There are, in china, some million mingong, workers from the hinterlands countryside who move to the big coastal cities in search of employment. Last train home was also a part of the sundance film forward program, which takes independent films and filmmakers to underserved audiences around the globe. Interview with lixin fan, director of last train home. Lixin fan opens his debut documentary feature, last train home, with an overhead shot of chinese migrant workers gathered by the thousands outside a railway station, hoping to get tickets so they can head home for the new years holiday. Rarely in a documentary does every shot matter as a bearer of emotion and information. It is used as the second ending theme for jojos bizarre adventure. Its a story about hundreds of millions, who work day and night in the production lines that make consumer goods for the rest of the world, coming home for new year celebrations. Last train home is selected in world documentary competition at sundance film festival 2010 and won the top prize at ridm montreal and the whistler international film festival. This is considered the worlds largest human migration. Last train home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful debut film from chinesecanadian director lixin fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration. Last train home where to watch streaming and online. Last train home takes viewers on a heartstopping journey with the zhangs, a couple who left infant children behind for factory jobs 16 years ago, hoping their wages would lift their children to a better life.
Most of us in the west will never get as deep into china as this film takes us, even if we visit that land. Use one of the films accompanying resources to learn about the issues and get involved. Shot over three years, last train home deals with an amazing social fact every single chinese new year, million migrant workers leave the cities and return home to their rural villages. Last train home is a stark, bleak, and unflinching revelation of a film. But the movie is not only about families traveling. Taking the last train home far flungers roger ebert. This article appeared in the september 2010 online documentary in conjunction wsith the film s theatrical release thrugh zeitgeist films last train home masterfully chronicles the personal story of the zhangs, a family of migrant factory workers in china, to reveal the human story behind the billions of. Chaos and claustrophobia are captured in shots of teeming crowds where people wait for. Heading to winnipeg where his father and a friend, the real killer, have gone, he is befriended by a mountie who starts watching out after.
Filmmaker lixin fans last train home documents the journey million migrant workers make back to their rural villages every chinese. It delves inside the prism and observes the phenomenon of chinese migration workers from rural villages to commercial cities, all through the reflection of a single family. Homeward train is a 2009 documentary film directed by lixin fan and produced by daniel cross and mila aungthwin of eyesteelfilm. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. Each spring, million migrant workers in china journey home to their villages for chinese new year. A family embarks on an annual tormenting journey along with 200 other million peasant workers to reunite with their distant family, and to revive their love and dignity as china soars as the worlds next super power. Id say the goal of of last train home is to explore the everyday human aspects of chinas economic growth, and how this current transition stage affects millions of lives in real, quantifiable ways. Last train home eyesteelfilm the adventures of montreals. Join cir members and friends for this screening of last train home. Emotionally engaging and starkly beautiful, last train home s intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of chinas ascendance as. Its already under siege when last train home opens, in 2006. Stardust crusaders, specifically the second half of the anime. With ron white, noam zylberman, donna goodhand, katharine isabelle. Last train home 1989 tvpg 1h 32min drama tv movie 30 november 1989.
List of documentary films about the peoples republic of china. Last train home is a documentary directed by lixin fan. Our destinations in mainland china included beijing, wuhan and xian. Media in category last train home film the following 8 files are in this category, out of 8 total. Last train home takes viewers on a heartstopping journey with the zhangs, a couple who left infant children behind for factory jobs 16 years ago, hoping their wages would lift their children to a. Watch last train home directed by lixin fan online vimeo. And i can be on the last train home watch it pass the day as it fades away no more time to care no more time, today but we sing if were going nowhere yeah we sing if its not enough and we sing sing without a reason to ever fall in love i wonder if youre listening picking up on the signals sent back from within. In these few eloquent shots, last train home captures what few other films have. It can seem as wondrous as a foreign planet, and indeed its as gorgeous and mysterious as one, sometimes startlingly verdant in the mist. Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a t. Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos as million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the new years holiday. Last train home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful debut film from chinesecanadian director lixin fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a. Sep 03, 2010 last train home complements yung changs up the yangtze also produced by mila aungthwin, and also the work, both fictional and non, of jia zhangke, the most prominent and protean. Last train home traces travels of chinas migrant workers duration.
Last train home is an american altcountry band led by eric brace guitar, lead vocals, formed originally in 1997 in washington d. Last train hometakes viewers on a heartstopping journey with the zhangs, a couple who left infant children behind for factory jobs 16 years ago, hoping their wages would lift their children to. Lixin fans nonfiction debut, last train home 2009, is just such an exceptional movie. On its surface, lixin fans documentary last train home visits this dark underbelly of chinese industrialization, though the film transcends the apparent limitations of its subject. From claustrophobic train cars to the wide expanses of their rural village home, this gorgeous verite film compassionately portrays the personal consequences of a consuming devotion to work, revealing the everyday realities of chinas emergence as a global economic power. Set in the 1880s, this fictional film blends reallife characters as a teen jumps freight trains in his trek to find his father who has been accused of murder. With changhua zhang, yang zhang, suqin chen, qin zhang. In 2006, lixin worked as associate producersoundman on the acclaimed feature documentary up the yangtze, a film about the worlda s largest hydroelectric project, the.
Last train home 1990 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. The unsustainable system in which the prc continues to function as the factory. Winner of best feature length documentary award, 2009 international documentary film festival. Last train home airs september 27, 2011, on pbs pov. The evening will begin with another fabulous chinese feast hosted by lulus chinese cuisine. Last train home itvs documentary film funding itvs. Last train home discussion guide influence film club. We showed the film to university students in these cities, and the young people loved it. Film summary the extraordinary last train home begins with a simple fact that, in china, more than million migrant workers journey home to their rural villages every year for new years.
Last train home is truelife documentary, rather than fiction, but i think it stands comparison to these other works. Painful social conflict will arise between those chinese citizens who produce consumer goods for the world, and those chinese who want to consume them. Watch the video for last train home from lostprophetss start something for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Watch the video for last train home from pat methenys one quiet night for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Last train home 2009, directed by lixin fan, is a chinese documentary, or possibly a docudrama. Rent last train home 2009 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix. Their unseen story plays out as china soars towards being a world superpower. Last train home 2009 stream and watch online moviefone. A couple embarks on a journey home for chinese new year along with million other migrant workers. Zhang changhua and chen suqin, who have to wait days and pay triple the regular fare to take a steamy. Jul 01, 2012 last train home is truelife documentary, rather than fiction, but i think it stands comparison to these other works.
Feature film 2018 83 mins last train home every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos as million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the new year in the worlds. Emotionally engaging and starkly beautiful, last train home s intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of chinas ascendance as an economic superpower. Mar 25, 2010 last train home 2009, the debut film by director lixin fan, is a stunning documentary about the modern china. The trailer for last train home which will play at the sundance film festival. The film looks at the yearly massmigration of chinese migrant workers coming back from the cities to the countryside for spring festival. Their underpaid toil feeds the chinese exportoriented economy and. A feature documentary about migrant workers in china and the worlds largest annual human migration.
Filmed with almost voyeuristic style, its hard not to want to turn away when you see the eyes of those being filmed glaring back at you as if daring you to look hard at the reality so few even bother to acknowledge. A couple embarks on a journey home for chinese new year along with million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. According to the film, over 200 million factory workers, who have left their homes to work in the city, attempt to return home for the new year holiday. Last train home is a family story about chinese migrant workers. Last train home, an extraordinary documentary, watches that conflict play out over a period of three years in one family. Last train home each spring, million migrant workers in china journey home to their villages for chinese new year. Watch last train home directed by lixin fan online. Last train home is an instrumental composition by the pat metheny group from their 1987 album still life talking. Lixin fan records factory workers family in china the.
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