One Says No

Chinese cities expand and gradually absorb the countryside. The village of Yangji was yet another victim to the expansion, which benefits local developers linked to the government. Rural residents are forced to vacate their simple dwellings and make room for new houses and entrepreneurs from the cities. The vast majority of local resistance will subside despite meager compensation and low prospects for decent housing, but Azhong is one of a handful of people who choose to fight against the corrupt system. He does not intend to give up his home. This raw documentary, revealing the inhuman dimension of the Chinese construction boom, is based on his immediate testimony from a barricaded apartment.  

Q&A with the filmmakers: 

 

 

Chinese filmmaker Zhao Dayong (1970) specialized in oil painting while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. After several years of shooting commercials, he began directing feature and documentary films that offer an uncompromising look at life in contemporary China. He received the FIPRESCI award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg film festival for his first feature film, The High Life (2010).