Moviegoers in select North American cities with large Chinese demographic areas (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Toronto and Ottawa) will get to see the latest in Chinese cinema. Thanks to a deal put together by AMC theaters and China Lion Film Distribution, Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock will be the first to receive a release under the “Cinema Asia” banner. I imagine the subtitles will indeed be included for the non-Mandarin speaking folk. Championed by Cameron Bailey, Xiaogang’s slice of dystopia was a highly touted title selected at TIFF and, was a box office record-breaker in China this year.
July, 1976. Tangshan, China.
Seven-year-old Fang Deng is enjoying a tranquil summer night with her parents and younger brother, not knowing that in a few hours her father will be gone and her mother will make a decision that will haunt her life for the next 32 years.
On the early morning of July 28, 1976, the northern Chinese city of Tangshan is flattened by an earthquake that measures 7.8 on the Richter scale.
The disaster kills more than 240,000 residents, including Fang Deng’s father. Now, her mother, Li Yuanni, has to make a decision. Her two children are both buried underneath a thick cement slab, and saving either one of them will put the other’s life at risk. Li Yuanni can only hear her son from the debris, and she is running out of time, so she chooses to abandon Fang Deng, unaware that her daughter is conscious enough to realize what the decision means for her.
But Fang Deng eventually survives and grows up with adoptive parents until another major earthquake 32 years later brings her back to her lost family.
