SXSW Film Preview: Last Train Home

In your mind, split the United States into two equally populated section and imagine that I-35 is the dividing line straight down the middle. Now, also imagine that all of the people, approximately 150 million on either side, are pushed to the farthest coast possible. Now try to envision, once a year, at the exact same time, that everyone on the east coast would pile into dank, chest-crushing stations and board west-bound trains. Sounds impossible, right? Well, it actually happens every year in China and it is the largest human migration on earth.

During the Lunar New Year, over 130 million residents of industrialized towns sardine themselves through maddening crowds to head back to their rural beginnings. In his directorial debut, Last Train Home, Lixin Fan follows one couple, Changhua and Sugin Zhang, on their journey from the factory town of Guangzhou back to the place where they left their baby daughter 16 years earlier. The Zhangs make the harrowing trip every year, once a year, but this time things are a bit different.

As you could imagine, their now 17-year-old daughter, Qin, resents their choice to leave her with family members so that they could go to work in the garment factories. Qin has quit school, and run away to Guangzhou to join the ranks of the young migrant workers herself. Determined to build a better life for Qin, Changhua and Sugin will participate in the migration once again, but this time with the aim of finding their daughter and taking her back the village to continue her education.

More about the film, screening times, and trailer after the jump!