Last Train Home
Director: Lixin Fan
Logline: Last Train Home is a feature documentary about the world’s largest regular human migration. The story spans one year in the lifetime of the migrant worker Zhang family, whose relationships are torn apart in the rush for change. Now the mother dreams to bring the family together by returning to their ancestral home for the Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important holiday in the lunar calendar. It remains the last stronghold of Chinese traditions that are withering rapidly with the invasion of new values. Each year, hundreds of millions of migrant workers return to their homes from the city to the rural countryside, throwing the transportation system into utter chaos. For many migrants, the cheapest and fastest route home is by train. People camp at railway station for tickets, climb through windows, stand for days and nights, wear diapers to avoid using the lavatory, and struggle to stay in sanity to survive the ride. They are determined to return home at any cost for the solemn purpose of getting back to see their families.
China’s booming economy is largely based on exploiting the vast population of cheap labor. Sacrificing the poor for GDP growth, the country runs the risk of making millions of families separated and their children fell uneducated. These issues could all pose serious backlash against the country’s ambitious goal. LAST TRAIN HOME will examine not only individual’s fate among this chaotic social evolution but also the country’s loss and gain in a race to be the world’s next super power.