Youth (Spring)

Nov 10, 2023

3h 32m

★ 6.8

Overview

This film was shot between 2014 and 2019 in the town of Zhili, a district of Huzhou City in Zhejiang province, China. Zhili is home to over 18,000 privately-run workshops producing children's clothes, mostly for the domestic market, but some also for export. The workshops employ around 300,000 migrant workers, chiefly from the rural provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan and Jiangsu.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

House on Fire

Gladys Glover

Chinese Shadows

ARTE France Cinéma

Les Films Fauves

Volya Films

Eastern-Lion Pictures and Culture Media

Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation

Le Fresnoy

Youth (Spring) Trailers

Cast

Self

Hu Zuguo

Li Shengnan

Folding towels, straightening out sheets, taking bathrobes out of the dryer, stripping beds, cleaning up vomit. Fluffing pillows—making a dent for elegantly turned-up corners—and endless scrubbing, cleaning and clearing up messes. Behind the scenes of a hotel in the Italian Dolomites, the staff do everything they can to serve the guests and prevent complaints. The hotel has four stars, and a fifth is in sight.

8.0

The Pharmacy: Shanghai

Mar 10, 1976

Filmed inside Pharmacy No. 3 in Shanghai, Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan-Ivens document the daily work of a state pharmacy that functions as both a dispensary and a neighborhood medical center. The film focuses on routine interactions between staff and patients, revealing an integrated model of urban healthcare in 1970s China.

0.0

Draussen bleiben

Oct 24, 2007

No overview available.

6.0

Beijing Spring

Mar 5, 2021

The documentary film of the brief window of artistic freedom and democracy movement 1978 - 1982 following China's brutal cultural revolution.

4.6

Maineland

Mar 11, 2017

Chinese teenagers from the wealthy elite, with big American dreams, settle into a boarding school in small-town Maine. As their fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, their relationship to home takes on a poignant new aspect.

6.0

World War C

Aug 9, 2021

It's war. War against an invisible enemy that is not as deadly as we are told. The world is changing rapidly. Disproportionate measures are taken worldwide that disrupt society as a whole. A dichotomy in society forced vaccinations and restrictions on freedom. Have we had the worst? Or is there something more disturbing to awaiting us.

10.0

Perdus entre deux rives, les Chibanis oubliés

Jul 4, 2014

No overview available.

3.0

Pathway

Mar 25, 2012

Xu Xin’s film “Dao Lu” (China 2012) offers an exclusive “in camera” encounter with Zheng Yan, an 83 year-old veteran of the Chinese Red Army, who calmly relates how he has navigated his country’s turbulent history over three-quarters of a century.Born to a wealthy family in a foreign concession, Yan joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1941 because he sincerely believed in the socialist project, and in its immediate capacity to free China from the Japanese yoke and eradicate deep-rooted corruption.

0.0

Swimming, Dancing

Sep 30, 2023

Swimming, Dancing examines audiovisual representations of the Yangtze (1934–present), from silent film to video art to the contemporary vlog. Inspired by the city symphonies of the 1920s, Swimming, Dancing pieces together a “river symphony”, evoking the images, sounds and contradictions that make up the river’s turbulent history.

0.0

Comprehensive School

Mar 13, 1962

The joys of 1960s modern education - as seen at a not-exactly-typical local comp.

8.0

Still Life: Ron Mueck at Work

Apr 16, 2013

No overview available.

0.0

Bitter Sweet Ballad

Jun 25, 2025

This is a story about youth with music. It all happens at the Dandelion School, Beijing’s first middle school specifically established for the children of migrant workers. Every year when new pupils arrive, Ms. Yuan Xiaoyan, who has worked in the school choir for eight years, would choose a group of music-loving first-years with solid musical foundations to join the choir. A new group of children join the choir while those who have advanced to the second year have to discuss with their families their future choices. For choir members, their music career in middle school will eventually stop due to the pressure of high school entrance examinations and the inevitable parting. But along this journey accompanied by music, they have been savoring the joys and sorrows of their youth, burying them deep in their hearts, and transforming them into growth-promoting nutrients.

8.0

Forced Labour: SOS from a Chinese Prisoner

Nov 14, 2023

A desperate cry for help written in Chinese was discovered in a pregnancy test sold in France and made in a Chinese factory. It revealed a hidden world of Chinese prison-companies where prisoners are forced to work for 15 hour days manufacturing products for export. This documentary tries to find out who wrote the letter.

0.0

How Lucky China

Jan 1, 2006

Follows Long Island’s Mary Lamont Band on their groundbreaking 23,000-mile tour in six cities and provinces across mainland China in 2002.

0.0

First Emperor - China's Terracotta Army

Invalid Date

Presented by the British Museum this is the story of the most famous army in the world. A triumph of early mass production and craftmanship, they were dreamt up by a man whose face we will never know; a figure who remains a more shadowy presence than that of his constructed warriors. And yet, Qin Shihuangdi was one of the greatest military leaders in history. Based on the latest research and including location photography at key sites in China, this film sheds new light on the achievements, ambitions and legacy of this enigmatic and intriguing ruler - an emperor who wished to reign for all eternity.

10.0

Crocodile in the Yangtze

Apr 12, 2012

Crocodile in the Yangtze follows China's first Internet entrepreneur and former English teacher, Jack Ma, as he battles US giant eBay on the way to building China's first global Internet company, Alibaba Group. An independent memoir written, directed and produced by an American who worked in Ma's company for eight years, Crocodile in the Yangtze captures the emotional ups and downs of life in a Chinese Internet startup at a time when the Internet brought China face-to-face with the West. Crocodile in the Yangtze draws on 200 hours of archival footage filmed by over 35 sources between 1995 and 2009. The film presents a strikingly candid portrait of Ma and his company, told from the point of view of an “American fly on a Chinese wall” who witnessed the successes and the mistakes Alibaba encountered as it grew from a small apartment into a global company employing 16,000 staff.

7.2

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

May 1, 2006

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

7.2

Crude Oil

Jan 17, 2008

Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, this film follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.

10.0

Tibet: The Survival of the Spirit

Dec 5, 1989

No overview available.

0.0

Happy Together

Nov 27, 2014

No overview available.

Youth (Spring)

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Youth (Spring) Trailers