Film Forum

WINNER, SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR, 2025 BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

In his sophomore outing, emerging auteur Huo Meng paints the sweeping story of one family in a wheat-farming community against the backdrop of China’s transformation into a global industrial powerhouse in the early ‘90s. For 10-year-old Chuang, these tectonic forces mean just one thing: his parents must go work in the city, leaving him behind in his maternal family’s village. Drama unfolds naturally from Chuang’s remote and sensitive perspective. Under the charge of brassy great-grandmother Li and young, independent-minded Auntie Xiuying, while keeping company Jihua, his cousin with a disability, Chuang bears witness to seasons of a deeply-rooted but disappearing way of life. 

Presented with support from The Endowed Fund for Emerging Filmmakers and The Reginald S. Reinhardt, Ling-Makekau Fund for Asia-Pacific Films

2025     132 MIN.     CHINA     IN MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES     FILM MOVEMENT

Trailer

Reviews

"Elegiac...a wonder of ensemble creation...[with] a moving verisimilitude...pierced with joy. Every move of the camera is purposeful and poetic. The landscape is beautiful—whispering fields of grass, waving wheat, misty dawns … and even knowing how hard everyone has to work to keep the land fertile and productive does not erase its magnificence."
– Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com

“There’s a patient, plainspoken poetry... to LIVING THE LAND, a rolling rural drama that... feels wholly, organically observed, as if its storytelling were dictated by the rigors and challenges of seasons and soil.”
– Guy Lodge, Variety
 
“With hundreds of details evoking a world of strife, sorrow, and occasional jubilation, [Huo] immerses the viewer... with all the precision and beauty of an accomplished artist.”
– Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
 
“[D]eeply poignant yet staunchly unsentimental... beautifully crafted...”
– John Berra, Screen  
 
“Huo Meng’s extraordinary second feature about countryside and country on the precipice of change... extremely handsome and involving...”
– Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire
 
“[A] rich, warm portrait... Huo’s lovely roving eye for composition and gentle hand with drama trace the challenges and enduring bonds among several hard-working generations of farmers.”
– Nicolas Rapold, Deadline Hollywood