East (Dong)

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Documentary, Drama

Filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke records an artist at work as well as the changing landscape of China in this documentary.

Painter Liu Xiao-dong, who is well known for his large canvases and his leading role in China's Cynical Realist movement, travels to the city of Fengjie to work on a project, using people who will lose their homes to the massive Three Gorges Dam as models.

Nearly a million will be displaced once the dam is completed, and in Fengjie Xiao-dong paints former factory workers lounging and playing cards in swimming trunks before their city disappears.

In Bangkok, the artist turns his attention to young women, who model dresses in the market distract as he tries to capture the bustle and malaise of the changing city. And finally, elsewhere in Bangkok Xiao-dong portrays a pair of blind men making their way through crowded streets.

The first feature-length documentary from Jia Zhang-ke, Dong received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.