Shanghai Waiting for Paradise
Shanghai en attendant le paradis
方浜路的等待
In 2001, a few months before the World Trade Center terrorist attack, the Wang family (3 generations of Chinese living under one roof in the old city of Shanghai) are suddenly confronted by the imminent demolition of their home.
Over a 5 year period, Sylvie Levey will film the intimacy of these seemingly ordinary people, whose world is confined within a few meters square on a street corner in downtown Shanghai.
The film tracks their feelings, hopes, struggles and frustrations with China and the rest of the world: Bush and Ben Laden; the Communist propaganda; the one child policy and abortion; their fatalism and despite it all, their immense pride in China’s hosting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing …
This film also vividly depicts the tremendous stresses on Chinese families when globalization arrives abruptly – even violently.
Through the Wang family and their 18 square meters, we will get a unique key-hole view into the life and the psyche of common men and woman of China. Life with a… universal dimension.
Shanghai Waiting for Paradise has been broadcasted on France Television (France 3) in the program: LA VIE COMME UN ROMAN.