China/2022 | Dir. Li Ruijun

Two middle-aged people—Cao, a timid, frail woman and Ma, an unassuming farmer—are pushed into an arranged marriage in the poor rural province of Gaotai in northern China. Ma has little to offer beyond a small house and some barren land, but he’s a patient, skilled farmer, and over time their garden begins to thrive, as does their relationship, until their peaceful existence is threatened by encroaching urbanization, as the local government begins incentivizing landowners to uproot their lives and to move to the city.

Meticulously shot over a full year, this moving, humanist work establishes director Li Ruijun as one of the most important voices of Chinese cinema. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (134 min.) 

“A moving portrait of China’s disappearing rural way of life, Return to Dust, like much of Li’s work, is a triumph of indie filmmaking.” —David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter