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Film Screening
ASCENSION: A virtual screening and discussion with award-winning Director Jessica Kingdon
Join SupChina for a virtual screening of the Oscar-nominated film ASCENSION. A beautiful story that examines the contemporary "Chinese Dream" through staggering observations of labor, consumerism, and wealth. In cinematically exploring the aspiration that drives today's People's Republic of China, the film plunges into universal paradoxes of economic progress
ASCENSION has just been nominated for an Academy Award in the feature documentary category! See all nominations including ASCENSION here.
ASCENSION is an impressionistic portrait of China’s industrial supply chain that reveals the country’s growing class divide through staggering observations of labor, consumerism, and wealth. The documentary portrays capitalism in China across the levels of its operation, from the crudest mine to the most rarefied forms of leisure. Accordingly, the film is structured in three parts, ascending through the levels of the capitalist structure: workers running factory production, the middle-class training for and selling to aspirational consumers, and the elites reveling in a new level of hedonistic enjoyment. In traveling up the rungs of China’s social ladder, we see how each level supports and makes possible the next while recognizing the contemporary “Chinese Dream” remains an elusive fantasy for most.
How to watch the film:
After registering for the event you will be sent an email with links to watch the film and join the live discussion. The film will be available to watch from February 18th to the 25th. Tickets are limited and on a first come first serve basis.
Registration will still be allowed even after all of the screening tickets are distributed for those that wish to join the live discussion.
Watch The Trailer
Speaker
Jessica Kingdon
Jessica Kingdon is a Chinese-American director/producer named one of “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine and selected for the 2020 DOC NYC “40 Under 40” list. Her first documentary feature, ASCENSION登楼叹 (2021), won awards for Best Documentary at the Tribeca Festival and Hamptons International Film Festival as well as Best Editing at DOC NYC. The film has received nominations from the Spirit Awards, the Gotham and the International Documentary Association along with five Cinema Eye nominations and six Critic’s Choice nominations. Her award-winning short COMMODITY CITY (2017) is an observational documentary about the world’s largest wholesale mall in Yiwu, China and played at over 50 film festivals. She co-directed the short IT'S COMING! (2020), and ROUTINE ISLAND (2019). Her work has been supported by organizations including SFFILM, Chicken & Egg, Cinereach, Sundance, Field of Vision, and Firelight Media. Jessica has served in producorial roles on Tania Cypriano’s BORN TO BE (NYFF 2019), Nathan Truesdell’s THE WATER SLIDE (True/False 2018), and Johnny Ma’s OLD STONE (Berlinale 2016). She is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
Moderator
Rebecca Wyzan
Rebecca Wyzan is the Head of Development at the NY-based production company Present Company. Present Company was co-founded by Dan Janvey (NOMADLAND, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD) and Paul Mezey (AFTER YANG, HALF NELSON). The company's first produced feature A LOVE SONG premiered at Sundance this year. Rebecca previously worked at Untitled Entertainment, where she advocated for and supported the careers of a diverse group of emerging filmmakers, actors, musicians, and activists. Her work spanned across multiple projects including Garrett Bradley's TIME and Phillip Youmans' BURNING CANE. Previously, Rebecca worked at both the Tribeca Film Festival in a publicity role and at the Video Art and Experimental Film Festival in programming and coordination. She has also freelanced as a music video and commercial producer.
Speaker
Maggie Li
Co-producer of Ascension, is a Shanghai-based producer, simultaneous interpreter (EN-CN), and business magazine editor (Value Index China). Her production work in documentary includes Plastic Watch by the BBC, China Exceptional Changes by PBS, Basketball Love by NBA China, the Power of Conversation for the UN’s 75th anniversary, and more. She has also helped to produce company videos for corporate clients such as Deloitte, Bain&Co, Colliers, and JP Morgan.
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