Directed by Jia Zhang-Ke • 2004 • China
Starring Zhao Tao, Cheng Taishen, Jing Jue
An at once intimate and expansive exploration of globalization from visionary director Jia Zhang-Ke, THE WORLD takes place in the eponymous theme park on the outskirts of Beijing, where iconic monuments from the Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal are reproduced for tourists. It’s there that the park’s employees—including a dancer (Zhao Tao) and a security guard (Cheng Taishen)—drift together and are pulled apart in a cycle of connection and alienation that speaks eloquently to the effects of China’s rapid modernization.
Up Next in Directed by Jia Zhangke
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Ash Is Purest White
Directed by Jia Zhang-Ke • 2018 • China
Starring Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Diao YinanVisionary director Jia Zhang-Ke’s mesmerizing, decade-plus spanning journey through China’s criminal underworld features a tour-de-force performance from his frequent star Zhao Tao as Zhao Qiao, the swaggering girlfr...
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Xiao Shan Going Home
Directed by Jia Zhang-Ke • 1995 • China
Starring Wang Hongwei, Dong Shuzhe, Yao ShengJia Zhang-Ke’s raw yet revelatory student film—in many ways a precursor to his debut feature XIAO WU—stars his frequent on-screen alter ego Wang Hongwei as a young, aimless cook drifting through encounters in B...
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Revive
Directed by Jia Zhang-Ke • 2017 • China
Starring Zhao Tao, Liang JingdongJia Zhang-Ke’s contribution to the omnibus feature WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE? follows a couple contemplating whether to have another child in the wake of the Chinese government’s newly established second-child policy.
