aiff_program10_interior.xp 3/4/10 11:48 PM Page 27
His & Hers Last Train Home
documentar
80 minutes ■ 2009 ■ Ireland 87 minutes ■ 2009 ■ Canada
Thursday 9:30p
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Friday 10:00a
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Saturday 12:30p
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Sunday 6:30p Thursday 12:00p
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Sunday 9:00p
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Monday 6:00p
Monday 3:30p
Director/Cinematographer: Lixin Fan ■ Producers: Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross ■
Executive Producers: Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross, Qi Zhao ■ Editors: Lixin Fan, Mary
Plays with: The Poodle Trainer (p34)
Stephens ■ Music/Composer: Olivier Alary ■ Principal Cast: Suqin Chen,Tingsui Tang,
Changhua Zhang, Qin Zhang ■
eyesteelfilm.com/lasttrainhome
Director/Editor: Ken Wardrop ■ Producer: Andrew Freedman ■ Cinematographers: Michael
Lavelle, Kate McCullough ■ Music/Composer: Denis Clohessy ■
hisandhers.ie ies
Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos as millions of
migrant factory workers attempt to return home by train during
The film opens with an Irish proverb: “A man loves his girlfriend
the week of Chinese New Year. It is an epic spectacle that tells us
the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” The film
much about modern-day China. The film draws us into the frac-
goes on to explore relationships between women and men by
tured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate
visiting moments from the lives of 70 female characters. Told se-
annual migration.
quentially through a mosiac of voices from girls and women from
the very young to the very old, the film combines observation Sixteen years ago, the Zhangs abandoned their young children to
and imagination to illustrate a funny, charming and universal find work in the city, consoled by the hope that their wages
love story. Shot in hallways, living rooms and kitchens across would provide their children with a better life. But the Zhangs’
the Irish Midlands, the story delivers a subtle and unique per- hopes for the future are undone by their very absence. In classic
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spective on sharing life’s journey with another. See director Ken cinema verité style, the film follows the Zhangs’ attempts to re-
Wardrop’s other film The Herd (p26). pair their ruptured family. Intimate and candid, the film paints
a human portrait of the dramatic changes sweeping China.
Ken Wardrop [adult content, language, subtitles]
Director’s Statement
Lixin Fan
It’s hard for me to actually define the sub-
Director’s Statement
ject of our film. I have always thought of it
as a love story—between man and woman. I used to work at TV stations in China. I
Looking back at it now, I guess it was a par- traveled to different parts of the county. The
ticularly odd choice of subject for an out and sharp contrast between the lives in cities
proud Irish gay man to have made. And yet it was the most ob- and countryside always struck me. The
vious. poverty in the vast rural area is overwhelm-
ing. As I traveled, I started to focus on the migrant workers,
For my first feature-length project I’d wanted to find a story that
whom I believe have contributed the most to China’s prosperity
would resonate with a wide audience and hopefully have some
but benefited the least. Aside from many hardships in life, they
of the charm that I believed my short film, Undressing My
also have to bear constant separation from their families who are
Mother, had. I of course had to look to my mother again for in-
left behind.
spiration. Although many would believe my mother has had an
ordinary life, she is still the most extraordinary character I per- I decided to document the lives of this group in a unique posi-
sonally know. This got me thinking, why should the ordinary be tion in China (and the world’s) history. The annual migrant ex-
overlooked? odus between cities and countryside during the week of the
Chinese New Year provided me a perfect background for the film
Of course it was next to impossible to encourage the people we
to closely examine the plight of the workers. The migrant Zhang
actually wanted to get involved. Irish people are suspicious by
family’s story speaks for millions affected by globalization on
nature. On one occasion I sent my short films to a lady to try and
both a social and humanistic level.
encourage her involvement. I had a subsequent telephone call
from her husband, suggesting that sending a DVD of my naked
Filmography: Directorial Debut
mother wasn’t exactly the cleverest method of encouragement.
Filmography: Contagious, Farewell Packets of Ten (2008 AIFF), The Herd (2010 AIFF),
Tongue Tied, Undressing My Mother (2006 AIFF), Useless Dog
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