RETURN TO DUST
US Premiere
HEART | WORLD
China 2022, 131 min, Director: Ruijun Li
A film that created a stir at this year’s Berlinale competition, Ruijun Li’s Return to Dust is an unusually tender love story of middle-aged strangers pushed into marriage by their respective families. Ma Youtie (Renlin Wu) is a quiet, hardworking man and the least loved of five brothers, while Cao Guiying (Hai-Qing) is a disabled, infertile woman long mistreated and isolated. Eager to be rid of these perceived burdens, their families arrange for the couple’s union. Despite injustice, poverty, and the odds stacked against them, Ma and Guiying discover their luck in sharing a life together. With a serenity expressed by few words and an exquisite visual palette, Li brings a peaceful contemplative atmosphere to the heart of the drama. Set in rural China and infused with the beauty of the four seasons, Return to Dust is a delicate portrait of outcasts who find in each other the hope, love, and companionship they never knew was possible. —João Federici
In Mandarin with English subtitles
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