Both screenings will be video introduced by Victor Fan (KCL).

Jia Zhangke’s bold and most genre-inflected work, A Touch of Sin (an homage to King Hu’s A Touch of Zen), offers a shocking reflection on capitalist China. Structured around four characters living in four different provinces, Shanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Guangdong, the film forms a fractured yet panoramic portrait of contemporary Chinese society, in which ordinary people are pushed toward violent ends. Nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win Best Screenplay.

Inspired by true events, the film begins with the tale of an angry miner (Wu Jiang), enraged by the corruption of his village, who decides to take justice into his own hands. This gives way to follow the tales of a rootless migrant (Wang Baoqiang) who discovers the infinite possibilities of owning a firearm; a receptionist (Jia’s wife and regular collaborator Zhao Tao) working at a local sauna, pushed to the limit by a wealthy client; and finally a young factory worker (Luo Lanshan), who goes from one discouraging job to the next, only to face increasingly degrading circumstances.

Cast:
Zhao Tao, Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang