Three Letters from China, Luc Schaedler (Switzerland, 2013)

Based on three different places, the film portrays the infractions to which people living in modern day China are subjected due to rapid developments

 In the final film of his Asian trilogy, Swiss director Luc Schaedler presents three diverse, intimate, and well-crafted portraits of life in contemporary China, each segment presenting an evocative and penetrating study of a different region. In the north, an elderly couple tenaciously cling to their family farm long after everyone else in the village, while their son and his wife negotiate a harsh existence in one of many grim industrial zones. An ancient rice-growing village in lush Guangxi Province in the south still struggles to heal the deep wounds inflicted during the upheaval, devastation, and brutality of the Cultural Revolution. The final segment is a captivating and unusual glimpse of life in the modern mega-city of Chongqing on the Yangtze River. On the surface, the three depictions are transfixing and exotic, yet the themes and struggles that arise are startlingly familiar: small farmers are unable to make a living, fishermen are running out of fish to catch, and families worry about job security. Over tea in a simple Chongqing cafe, a man speaks passionately of the deepening divide between the rich and the poor, and the world seems to be shrinking as he speaks.

—Gustavus Kundahl

Written, Photographed by Schaedler. (80 mins)