Meet the Filmmaker: A Touch of Sin

The Smithsonian Freer Sackler Museum presents a screening of A Touch of Sin followed by a talk with director Jia Zhang-ke

In Person: Jia Zhang-ke, director; Zhao Tao, actress

Director of such groundbreaking films as Platform, The World, and Still Life, Jia Zhang-ke was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s Leading Political Thinkers of 2013.

A “brilliant exploration of violence and corruption in contemporary China” (Jon Frosch, The Atlantic), A Touch of Sin was inspired by four shocking (and true) events that forced the world's fastest-growing economy into a period of self-examination. An angry miner, enraged by widespread corruption in his village, decides to take justice into his own hands. A rootless migrant discovers the infinite possibilities of owning a firearm. A young receptionist, who dates a married man and works at a local sauna, is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. And a young factory worker goes from one discouraging job to the next, only to face increasingly degrading circumstances. (Dir.: Jia Zhang-ke, China, 2013, 125 min., D-Cinema, Mandarin with English subtitles)