Still Life

Jia’s empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society is a breathtakingly poetic hybrid of documentary and fiction. As in Up the Yangtze, China’s Three Gorges hydro project is the backdrop for Still Life. Jia charts the great changes that come to the town of Fengjie, where countless families who have lived there for generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie’s old town, which has a 2,000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever, but its new neighborhood hasn’t been finished yet. There are still things that need to be salvaged, but also things that must be left behind. Life-changing choices face Sanming, a miner returning to Fengjie after a 16-year absence to search for his ex-wife, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her missing husband. Sanming and Shen will find who they’re looking for, but in the process they will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what is not. “The setting speaks; it's still-life. Even more than the winding river and the misty mountains, Still Life (the Chinese title translates as 'The Good People of Three Gorges') vibrates with traces of human presence—deserted construction sites, shabby cluttered rooms, and moldering factory works.”—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice.

Free for members or with Museum admission. Film only: $8 general, $7 students and seniors.

Whitsell Auditorium