Present. Perfect.

Shengze Zhu / United States, Hong Kong / 2019 / East European Premiere / 124 min.

synopsis

Streaming has become an unprecedented hit in China with a commercial value in the billions. In 2017, more than 427 million people could not get by without sharing the details of their pre-camera privacy. Whether it be an incompetent street dancer, an adult man suffering from a genetic disorder that makes him look like a child, or a slacker working in an underwear factory. The director watched dozens of these “newsmakers” and from more than 800 hours of absolute mundanity, she put together a remarkable collective portrait of a generation for whom offline and online worlds are inextricably linked, showing a fascinating testimony about the pursuit of rapid success and the loneliness and mere killing of time.

biography

Shengzhe Zhu (1987), together with Zheng Fan Yang, founded the production company BURN THE FILM. In her documentary debut, Xujiao [Out of Focus] (2014) , she viewed the life of an immigrant child through a photographic prism. In You yi nian [Another Year] (2016), she explored the consequences of a wild shift of the Chinese population from rural to urban.