WALKING PAST THE FUTURE (LU GUO WEI LAI) World Cinema

Widespread factory layoffs in the post-industrial Chinese metropolis of Shenzen force the parents of Yang Yaoting (Yang Zishan) to retreat to their agricultural background in the northeastern province of Gansu. Once they arrive, her parents find they no longer own their land and that failing health has left them incapable of farm labor. Yaoting becomes determined to produce a down payment for a property in Shenzen, permanently securing a place in the city for her family. In his fifth feature, rising talent Li Ruijun elegantly addresses the socioeconomic realities of contemporary China, which resonate globally in systems that place no value in their working class, with the promise of a better future just out of reach. – Malin Kan