Directed by Jessica Kingdon
USA | 2021 | Documentary | 96 min | Mandarin w/ subtitles
Film Source: Visit Films
Sponsors: A Single Pebble
Not available on Virtual
Winner, Best Documentary, Tribeca FF
A riveting observational documentary, at times amusing and always enlightening, Ascension is choreographed to be a visual and aural ballet of both the working and wealthy classes in modern-day China. What makes this doc stand out from other films about working conditions in this fast-evolving country is the way we eavesdrop on private and casual conversations. The film lets the people talk, and we are there to listen. ~Orly Yadin
“In lieu of a lecture, Kingdon’s film, which fits into a documentary tradition that includes Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi, rather rewires your mental picture of contemporary China. Presented with no narrative and limited structure, Ascension is a collection of breathtaking images and revelatory vignettes that position China as a simultaneously alien and completely universal cultural and industrial landscape, never spelling out which direction points toward progress.” ~Daniel Feinberg