The screening on 5 April will be introduced by Chris Berry (KCL).
After exploring China's social and historical transformations for over a decade, Jia Zhangke turns his lens to Shanghai in this compelling documentary.
I Wish I Knew is a vivid portrait of the fast-changing metropolis and port city – Shanghai, a place marked by revolutions, assassinations, love stories, and the constant flow of people in and out. After the Chinese Communists' victory in 1949, thousands of Shanghaiers left for Hong Kong and Taiwan. To leave meant being separated from home for thirty years; to stay meant suffering through the Cultural Revolution and China's other political upheavals.
Eighteen people from these three cities, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong, including filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, painter Danqing Chen, writer Han Han and actress Rebecca Pan, recall their lives in Shanghai. Their personal experiences, like eighteen chapters of a novel, tell stories of Shanghai lives from the 1930s to 2010.
