Return to Dust

Banned in China shortly after its release, Li Ruijun’s Golden Bear-nominated film is a profound and tender love story between two outcasts.

Following a hastily arranged marriage by unsympathetic relatives, Cao Guiying (Hai Qing) sets off with her new husband Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin, himself a farmer) to nurture their farm and livestock. Amidst backbreaking work and financial hardship, an unlikely romance develops that brings them great comfort and delight against all the odds.

Set in the director’s hometown, with much of the cast made up of his own relatives and local villagers, this is a deeply intimate and personal work – and one that the Chinese government does not want you to see.