The World
Ambiguous places, halfway between euphoria and terror, haunted by visions of the past and the future alike, amusement parks are a common backdrop in many films. Their shimmering lights, joyful crowds, and exhilarating rides often serve as a stage for contrast, where they reflect, in turn, a desire for illusion, breathless consumerism, melancholic solitude, and buried anxieties.
Tao works as a dancer at The World amusement park in Beijing, which brings together all the wonders of the world in miniature. In this microcosm, she encounters immigrants, petty crooks, and workers who, like her, are searching for a better life.
Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film and television director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and writer. He is the founder of Pingyao International Film Festival, the dean of Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Media College and the dean of Vancouver Film School at Shanghai University. He graduated from the Literature Department of Beijing Film Academy. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, Wang Quan'an and Zhang Yuan. Jia's early films, a loose trilogy based in his home province of Shanxi, were made outside of China's state-run film bureaucracy, and are therefore considered "underground" films. Beginning in 2004, Jia's status in his own country rose when he was allowed to direct his fourth feature film, The World, with state approval. Jia's films have received critical praise and have been recognized internationally, notably winning the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for Still Life in 2006. He received the Leopard of Honour at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010, the Carrosse d'or lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, and an honorary award at the Visions du Réel in 2024.
Photo: Stream Pictures, Courtesy of Films We Like
