USA,
2001, 62 min
Shown in 2002
CREDITS
- dir
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Ruby Yang
- prod
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Lambert Yam
- cam
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Lambert Yam, Ruby Yang
- editor
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Ruby Yang
- mus
-
Jon Herbst
- source
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K. Bik Films, 54 Manchester Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. EMAIL: kbikfilms@yahoo.com.
- premiere
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U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Shown with Orange Juice and Knitting Needles. Ruby Yang in person.
OTHER
Editor, producer and documentary-maker Ruby Yang continues her exploration (begun in her 1996 documentary Citizen Hong Kong) of a time and place of uncertainty and change: 21st-century China. China 21 is a powerful portrait of four families living within the two-child government dictate. The families openly share deeply emotional personal perspectives and their plans for the future. The booming coastal city of Shanghai contrasts sharply with the rural areas in central China where families own land yet grow barely enough food to survive. Tang Enliang, a 19-year-old law student, knows that his close-knit Shanghai neighborhood will soon be replaced by high rises. Terry Han, 23, is hopeful about the future despite his parents’ fears that he will be separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Shanghai but lacks a residence permit. Perhaps the most unforgettable image is of the knowing eyes of six-year-old Zhong Qui, whose commute to school is two hours each way, barefoot until she grows into her shoes.
—Rosemary Pepper
FACTOID #180
According to the Chronicle’s Herb Caen, producer David O. Selznick’s ’last letter and last phone call were to [SFIFF administrator] Shirley Temple Black to whom he said, ’I can’t wait to see you at the Festival.’’ Selznick was the namesake for a series of awards at the San Francisco International.
