Ascension - 1 nomination

 

Best Documentary Feature
Jessica Kingdon
Kira Simon-Kennedy
Nathan Truesdell

Now this was a truly fascinating film.  It's starts are the bottom - if China had a caste system, this is what it would look like.  The mass numbers of people making stuff, stuff, and more stuff.  As the movie goes on, we rise in class to fancier and better paying jobs, all the way to the top rung of the ladder.  There is very little explanation in the film so we are drawn to our own conclusions - how does one achieve "the Chinese dream?" How does one rise from the underclass, is there ever a path out of one's predetermined place in society?

At first, I thought this might be a kind of "slice of life" film, and those are generally not my cup of tea.  This is because the filmmakers have chosen to let us, the viewers, draw our own conclusions about the data they are presenting.  There is no companion data analysis, and we are left make our own observations and maybe even our own comparisons to the worlds in which we live.  It's a heck of fascinating movie, but don't expect a guide to join you on the path.