Last Train Home

This is a joint presentation by Equator Magazine, King’s College London’s Lau China Institute as part of China Week 2026 and Chinese Cinema Project.

The screening on 22 October will be introduced by film curator Ademola Bello and followed by a discussion between Dr. Charlotte Goodburn and Prof. Victor Fan. The discussion will focus on the shifting status of Chinese migrant workers and the recent flourishing of artistic production by and for them, from poetry to literary fiction.

A documentary portrait that follows parents and factory workers, Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin, who leave their hometown and children in search of work and economic opportunity in China’s booming cities.

In Fan Lixin’s IDFA-winning debut film, the Zhang family, along with millions of migrant workers enlisted into China’s manufacturing revolution, are offered space to narrate its profound and destabilizing effects on their lives. For the makers of modern China, even the mundane task of securing a train ticket home for Chinese New Year can prove to be a mammoth struggle.

Dr. Charlotte Goodburn is the Deputy Director of the Lau China Institute, specialising in Chinese Politics and Development.

Prof. Victor Fan is a professor of Film and Media Philosophy at King’s College London who focuses on Chinese and Sinophone cinemas and medias.

Cast:
Zhang Changhua, Chen Suqin, Zhang Qin, Zhang Yang

Please arrive promptly - we do not show adverts.

Part of Chinese Cinema Project Fan Lixin, China, Canada , 2009, 85m.