RETURN TO DUST

China 2022 - DCP - 134 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles

Director, Screenplay: Ruijun Li

Producers: Yan Li, Min Zhang

Cast: Renlin Wu, Hai-Qing, Denping Zhao

Print Courtesy: Film Movement

Sunday, July 9 3:40PM | MFC 2

Saturday, July 15 9:40PM | MFC 2

Sunday, July 9 6:20PM | MFC 3

Tuesday, July 11 9:40PM | MFC 2

A deeply affecting love story and portrait of a dying, rural way of life in contemporary China, Return to Dust was a Chinese box office hit upon its release late last year—until it was abruptly pulled from theaters by governmental order. Independent filmmaker Li Ruijun plunges us into China’s pastoral northwest border region with Mongolia. In a small, rural village in Gaotai (the director’s home region) two lonely, middle-aged people—Cao, a timid woman suffering from chronic illness and a disability, and Ma, an unassuming farmer with little to his name—are pushed into an arranged marriage by their respective families. Cast aside as burdens, Cao and Ma begin a relationship that’s tepid at first, but which warms as the two spend their days fixing up an abandoned house on their small patch of land. Invigorated by a shared purpose and the all-consuming nature of farm work, the couple’s bond grows. However, in the dwindling rural communities of the Gansu province surrounding them, local farmers are being incentivized by local government to demolish their homes and uproot toward the cities. With their livelihood disappearing, the couple attempt to build a new life together with continued patience and determination toward their home and each other. —KE Sponsored by Jane Morrison