Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival 2008

There will be a seminar after this film is shown: THE EFFECTS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY ON MODERN CHINA. Documentary and fiction are sometimes uneasy bedfellows, but having made both back-to-back in many of his film projects (most recently, STILL LIFE and DONG), filmmaker Jia Zhangke finally marries the two media in 24 CITY. In his chronicle of the changing fortunes of a defunct but once glorious aeronautic factory and its workers through talking heads and wordless images exclusively, the documentary strain prevails to simple, yet emotionally reverberating effect. 24 CITY balances the human cost of change with a self-renewing future as witnessed by the re-development project on the demolished factory site. It's pure clarity and pristine cinematography will appeal to a more serious and aesthetically inclined audience. --Maggie Lee