Awarded Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ascension casts an ironic gaze on a number of unusual elements in contemporary Chinese society. While shedding light on the absurdity of the capitalist rat race, the film first presents the realities of workers in hazardous factories before turning its attention to the social ladder and finally focusing on the ostentatious spectacle of the elite who aspire to the most vapid of Western trappings. With a well-placed camera and remarkable editing work that transforms the images into a sort of symphony, Chinese-American filmmaker Jessica Kingdon delivers an incredible first feature that is a fascinating chronicle of the Chinese Dream and its dangerous implications for the future. (Programming Collective)

Presented in collaboration with Chop Chop Films

Ascension