Film Forum

China’s one-child policy, the extreme population control measure that made it illegal for couples to have more than one child, may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the trauma of its brutal enforcement is only just beginning. From award-winning documentarian Nanfu Wang (HOOLIGAN SPARROW, I AM ANOTHER YOU) and Jialing Zhang, the sweeping ONE CHILD NATION explores the ripple effect of this devastating social experiment, uncovering one shocking human rights violation after another - from abandoned newborns, to forced sterilizations and abortions, and government abductions. Wang digs fearlessly into her own personal life, weaving her experience as a new mother and the firsthand accounts of her family members into archival propaganda material and testimony from victims and perpetrators alike, yielding a revelatory and essential record of this chilling, unprecedented moment in human civilization.

Presented with support from the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

USA    2019   89 MINS.    IN ENGLISH AND CHINESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES    AMAZON STUDIOS

Reviews

“Critic’s Pick. A powerful, unflinching look at China’s past through its present… An essential account of one battle in the continuing war over women’s bodies, one that, Wang forcefully observes, is in no way limited to China… while you may want to look away, Wang and Zhang keep you watching… The documentary’s personal quality, it turns out, isn’t simply appealing; it also establishes a tight, empathetic bond between you and the filmmakers — particularly Wang — that grows stronger as the story progresses.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Boldly confrontational and journalistically probing… Reveals [a] system of violence, corruption, propaganda, and silence.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“More horrific than any movie in the Midnight section [at Sundance Festival] Wang’s film investigates the lasting effects of China’s one-child policy, which was instituted in the late 1970s… Wang and her co-director Jialing Zhang investigated… totalitarian state control of women’s bodies… A film about choice but implicitly it’s also about propaganda.”
– Amy Taubin, Film Comment

“A brilliant combination of cultural reporting and interpersonal reckoning.”
– Eric Kohn, Indiewire