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LOST COURSE

(迷航)

WATCH

Mandarin w/ English subtitles

Minutes: 

179

Director: 

Jill Li

Documentary

2020

|

China

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LOST COURSE

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LOST COURSE

Trailer

LOST COURSE

Embedding herself in the village of Wukan, southern China for several years starting in 2011, first time documentarian Jill Li witnessed an unprecedented experiment in local democracy. Corrupt officials had illegally sold villagers' land, but the villagers decided to fight back.


The documentary is divided into two halves: the first, "Protests", depicts the grassroots activities of Wukan residents as they work to reverse the land sales and gain a substantial measure of control over their local territory. We see how the villagers themselves learn to organize elections, form alliances, and win support. Part two, "After Protests", confronts the collapse of idealism as the newly elected village government finds itself mired in the same kind of corrupt dealings they had originally condemned.


Li reveals the complexities of their triumphs and setbacks from the inside. Her astonishingly intimate, sympathetic and fair-minded access to the events' major players reveals Chinese local politics with three-dimensional passion and energy.


  • Best Documentary, Golden Horse Awards 2020

  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA 2020

  • Hong Kong Asian Film Festival HKAFF 2019

  • Vancouver International Film Festival 2019

"Urgent and energetic. Nothing about this complex documentary veers in the wrong direction."

Screen Daily

"Engrossing, revealing and bittersweet; sweeps the viewer into the center of a bold, fledgling grassroots democratic movement in the surprising setting of rural China. Hats off [for] an engrossing piece of solid, uncensored journalism."

The Hollywood Reporter

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