Last train home -- Guītú lièchē

Last Train Home (Chinese: 归途列车; pinyin: Guītú Lièchē; literally "Homeward Train") is a 2009 documentary film directed by Lixin Fan and produced by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin of EyeSteelFilm. Last Train Home won the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA and was distributed by Zeitgeist Films in the US territory.

Director: Lixin Fan (Pinyin: Fàn Lìxīn)

Brief Intro

Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers travel back to their home villages for the New Year's holiday.

Working over several years in classic cinéma vérité style, director Lixin Fan travelled with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like many of China's rural poor, the Zhangs have left their native village and their newborn daughter to find work in Guangzhou in a garment factory for 16 years and see her only once a year during the Spring Festival. Their daughter Qin, now a restless and rebellious teenager- bitterly resents her parents' absence and longs for her own freedom away from school and her rural hometown, much to the dismay of her parents. She eventually leaves school, against the wishes of her parents, to work in the city. Emotionally charged and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home examines one fractured family to shed light on the human cost of China's ascendence as an economic superpower.

the Zhang family 

In a March 2010 follow-up interview, director Lixin Fan reveals that the Zhangs are still working in the factory and Qin telephoned, but did not visit, for the New Year. More recently, in September 2011, Fan said that Qin was now a student in Beijing, and that while Qin's mother is back on the farm, her father still works at the factory.

Awards

2009: Won Best Feature Documentary at the 22nd annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
2009: Won Cinémathèque Québécoise Best Quebec film award at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
2010: Won Golden Gate Award in the Investigative Documentary Feature Category at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF)
2010: Official Selection at Sundance Film Festival
2010: Official Selection at New Directors/New Films
2010: Won Best Documentary Feature at the RiverRun International Film Festival
2010: Won Grand Prix at EBS International Documentary Festival