a still from the documentary Up the Yangtse, by Yung Chang

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is on in London at the moment and coming to NYC soon. There’s a great selection of films, animation and documentaries from around the world including Yung Chang’s Up the Yangtse, a documentary about a tourist cruise on the Yangtse River. The cruise becomes a metaphor for modern China, its economic struggle and successes, social pressures and Westernisation, all played out in the pleasure boat’s microcosm.

Trailer here, Film festival info here.