SISTER HEAVEN SISTER EARTH
a feature documentary
Sister Heaven Sister Earth, 2009, Trailer
Two tenacious 24 year-old Chinese girls born in the Year of the Pig — Leslie, an American-born aspiring filmmaker, and Fenfen, a migrant laborer from China’s forsaken countryside — become entangled in a mother-daughter love triangle after a chance encounter in a Guangzhou foot massage parlor. The two girls with video cameras document Fenfen's unstable, day-for-day existence in the migrant underworld, her unorthodox relationship with Leslie's mother, the introduction of an "American sister" into her life. Are Fenfen’s intentions with Leslie’s mother innocent or manipulative? What version of the truth will Fenfen's camera show us, that Leslie's camera cannot?
China & USA, 2009, Mini DV, 104 minutes, Mandarin w/ English subtitles
Directed, shot, and edited by Leslie Tai
"...An original, disturbing and accurate representation of young, underprivileged Chinese womanhood — and also a savvy, generous reflection on the formal and ethical issues of the documentary 'gesture'."
-Bérénice Reynaud, film critic and curator
This film premiered at Caochangdi Workstation's 5th Annual May Festival, 2009: New Works in Documentary Film, Beijing, China and is distributed by the China Independent Documentary Film Archive.
To purchase DVD for Educational Use, please visit China Independent Documentary Film Archive (CIDFA).
