STILL LIFE - A Big World Pictures release

Usedom

Director: Jia Zhang-ke
Country: Hong Kong/China
Year: 2006
Running time: 108 min
In Mandarin with English subtitles

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Still Life, winner Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2006, is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director Jia Zhang-ke’s earlier films (Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World), it is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction.

In Still Life, great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges hydro project: Countless families that had lived there for many generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie’s old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever, but its new neighborhood hasn’t been finished yet. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. In Still Life, such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn’t seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they’re looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go of.

NOW AVAILABLE ON HOME VIDEO FORMATS: DVD, Blu-ray, AND VIMEO ON DEMAND!

WATCH THE TRAILER

PHOTOS

Click on thumbnails for hi-res versions or download all stills as one zip file

PLAYDATES

9/25-10/22/20 Film Forum, New York, NY
9/25/20 Austin Film Society, Austin, TX
9/25-10/15/20 AFI Silver Theater, Silver Springs, MD
9/25/20 Avalon Cinema, Washington, DC
9/25/20 North Park Theatre, Buffalo, NY
9/25/20 The Lightbox Film Center, Philadelphia, PA
9/25/20 Davis Varsity Theatre, Davis, CA
9/25/20 Suns Cinema, Washington, DC
9/25/20 Kimball's Peak Three Theaters, Colorado Springs, CO
9/25/20 The Parkway Theater, Minneapolis, MN
9/25/20 The Nightlight Cinema, Akron, OH
9/25/20 a/perture cinema, Winston-Salem, NC
9/25/20 Zeitgeist Theatre, New Orleans, LA
9/25/20 Salt Lake Film Society, Salt Lake City, UT
9/25/20 Chelsea Theater, Chapel Hill, NC
9/25/20 Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA
9/25/20 Corazon Cinema, St. Augustine, FL
10/2/20 Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA
10/2/20 Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles, CA
10/2-11/20/20 Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
10/2-22/20 Cleveland Cinematheque, Cleveland, OH
10/2/20 Tivoli@the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO
10/2/20 Salem Cinema, Salem, OR
10/2/20 Vermont Intl. Film Festival, Burlington, VT
10/2/20 Sag Harbor Cinema, Sag Harbor, NY
10/2/20 Acme Screening Room, Lambertville, NJ
10/2-11/5/20 Coral Gables Art Cinema, Coral Gables, FL
10/2/20 Colonial Theatre, Belfast, ME
10/2/20 CineCina, New York, NY
10/16/20 Crandell Theatre, Chatham, NY
11/6/20 Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit, MI
2/3/22 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
4/27/22 Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, NY - Rare 35mm film screening!
11/8/22 Doc Films, Chicago, IL - Rare 35mm film screening!
3/17-21/23 Metrograph, New York, NY - Rare 35mm film screening!
10/6,8,14/23 Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA - Rare 35mm film screening!
3/29-31/24 Metrograph, New York, NY - Rare 35mm film screening!
11/9/24 Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
4/30-5/8/25 IFC Center, New York, NY
5/16-22/25 Kan-Kan, Indianapolis, IN
5/24, 26/25 Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY
7/11/25 Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL

REVIEWS

“A HUMAN TRIUMPH. Sublime, soulful art. Jia is among the most strikingly gifted filmmakers working today.”
- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“EXHILARATING. A movie to change one’s view of both cinema and life.”
– John Anderson, Newsday

“A MONUMENTAL WORK.” -Dave Kehr, The New York Times

“EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL.” -David Denby, The New Yorker

“BREATHTAKING.” -Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

“DAZZLING.” -Sam Adams, Philadelphia City Paper

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