A Wider Angle Film Series: RETURN TO DUST

For February, A Wider Angle, our monthly film series highlighting independent global cinema, will screen the 2022 Chinese drama Return to Dust, written and directed by Li Ruijun. The film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and won the Golden Spike top prize at Spain's Valladoid International Film Festival. At the box office, it was a surprise summer hit in its home country before the Chinese government pulled it from cinemas and streaming platforms.

In rural Gansu province on the edge of the Gobi desert (the filmmaker's home province), two outcasts from their respective families are shunted into an arranged marriage in order to unburden their more promising but apathetic siblings. With next to nothing materially to offer one another, Youtine and Guiying (along with their faithful donkey) work the land together tirelessly to generate a productive crop and literally build a house from the ground up. However, their unexpected and tender bond is threatened by forces that might be too great to overcome.

In Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles. (Running time 134 minutes)

Click here to read a review of the film.

A Wider Angle film series is made possible through funding provided by the Friends of the Library.