A New Era
Synopsis
In 2008, local authorities evict 2,000 villagers from Guangzhou, a river island in Southern China to build a presumed Ecological Parc. In spite of the demolition of their houses and police pressure, a handful of inhabitants return to the island. For 7 years, Boris films their battle to save their ancestral land, from the ruins of the village where nature is slowly reasserting itself, to the worksites of the megacity which inexorably advances towards them. Will they share the same fate of 5 billions of Chinese peasants expropriated yearly?
Schedule
Credits
Boris Svartzman
Born in 1981, Boris Svartzman, a Franco-Argentinian director, photographer and sociologist, has documented the social consequences of urbanizationin China since the beginning of the millennium. His pictures have been exhibited in several festivals, including the prestigious Visa Pour l’Imagephoto-festival.He focuses on the lives of the billions of peasants who are evicted every year in China and relocated to urban areas. For seven years, he has filmed thestruggle of villagers against the expropriationof their land, in his debut film “A New Era”.
