93minutes, color, 2007
Mandarin w/ English subtitles
“[I wanted to make] a movie about tourists on this Yangtze cruise boat — a kind of 'Gosford Park' idea that shows the social hierarchy, the lives above and below the decks. I realized that the people working on the boat were all from the Yangtze area and that many of their families were affected by the dam.”
— Yung Chang, Filmmaker
The Three Gorges Dam — a contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle — provides the backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a feature-length documentary on life inside the 21st-century Chinese dream. Focused on the experiences of two teens from families who are displaced as the construction of the dam submerges their homes, the film puts a human face on policy debates about the benefits and costs of huge public works projects.
The film’s powerful narrative of contemporary China serves as a reminder that massive development projects inevitably produce massive social change.Join us for a screening and discussion on this film.
