Still Life

Wednesday, April 30 - Thursday, May 8, 2025

SHOWTIMES AT IFC CENTER

In STILL LIFE, great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges hydro project: Countless families that had lived there for many generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie’s old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever, but its new neighborhood hasn’t been finished yet. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. In STILL LIFE, such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn’t seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they’re looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go of.

Screening as part of Time and Tide: The Films of Jia Zhangke

See more and save! Get a Jia Zhangke Ticket Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three shows in the retrospective.

  • Country Hong Kong, China
  • Language Mandarin with English subtitles
  • Year 2006
  • Running Time 111 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor Big World Pictures
  • Director Jia Zhang-ke
  • Cast Zhao Tao, Zhou Lan, Sanming Han, Lizhen Ma, Hongwei Wang
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.