Institute History
Description
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting
A mysterious stream of pig carcasses floats silently toward China’s populous economic hub, Shanghai. As authorities struggle to explain the phenomenon, a down-and-out pig farmer with a youthful heart struggles to make ends meet, while an upwardly mobile landowner fights gentrification against an American expat seeking a piece of the Chinese dream. Meanwhile, a romantic busboy hides his job from his father, while a rich young woman struggles to find her independence. Like a mosaic, their stories intersect and converge in a showdown between human and machine, past and future, brother and sister.
Observing modern China through a humanist lens, Cathy Yan’s feature debut revels in watching its characters discover their place within the fissures that arise when a status-obsessed society is forced to reckon with the meaning of success. Cleverly connecting China’s social stratum with intergenerational narratives, Dead Pigs searches for connection in a constantly changing landscape, delving into how to find fulfilment when the distance between us and our loved ones grows greater every day.