Athens International Film Festival
aiff

THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS | WU YE CHU ZOU


CHINA, USA | 2023 | COLOR | DCP | 92’ | MANDARIN

Chengdu. A big city in China, twice the population of Greece. Among the concrete modernization and the tireless excavators, a hole-in-the-wall shop, Funky Town, home to a generation of ravers, skaters, queers, dj’s, drag queens. With a camera vérité, subtly intrusive and determinably penetrative, without over explaining and patronizing, Mullinkosson’s documentary captures a world forgotten by development, a world of brightness and depression, pleasure and decadence that drew the small straw, yet has turned the knife to itself. Full of self-criticism and with the precision of a reflection, philosophical and compassionate, this is a progressive documentary which does not fail to point out that people forced to the fringes never stop being human, at least as human as those observing them. I.D.

DIRECTOR: Benjamin Mullinkosson
DoP: Gena Baranov, Yanqiu Fei
EDITOR: Bobby Moser

BENJAMIN MULLINKOSSON
American documentarist, who grew up in suburban Chicago, studying observational documentary. For more than 10 years he shared his time between Los Angeles and Shanghai, working in documentary and advertising. This film took 4 years to complete. With his previous work (‘Don’t Be a Dick About It’, 2018) he won the Audience Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. 

FILMOGRAPHY
2023 The Last Year of Darkness
2018 Don’t Be a Dick About It



        : International Documentaries Competition

        20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL | 20 ДНІВ У МАРІУПОЛІ

        20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL | 20 ДНІВ У МАРІУПОЛІ

        28/09/2023, 17:15, ASTOR
        04/10/2023, 17:45, DANAOS 2

        ON THE ADAMANT | SUR L’ADAMANT

        ON THE ADAMANT | SUR L’ADAMANT

        28/09/2023, 19:15, DANAOS
        01/10/2023, 19:30, DANAOS 2

        QUEENDOM

        QUEENDOM

        28/09/2023, 22:00, ASTOR
        05/10/2023, 17:45, ASTY

        THE ETERNAL MEMORY | LA MEMORIA INFINITA

        THE ETERNAL MEMORY | LA MEMORIA INFINITA

        29/09/2023, 18:00, ASTOR
        02/10/2023, 17:00, ASTOR

        THE SPECTRE OF BOKO HARAM | LE SPECTRE DE BOKO HARAM

        THE SPECTRE OF BOKO HARAM | LE SPECTRE DE BOKO HARAM

        29/09/2023, 19:30, DANAOS 2
        04/10/2023, 19:45, DANAOS 2

        ANGEL APPLICANT

        ANGEL APPLICANT

        29/09/2023, 21.00, DANAOS 2
        30/09/2023, 17.45, ASTOR

        THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES | KADIB ABYAD

        THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES | KADIB ABYAD

        30/09/2023, 19:30, ASTOR
        03/10/2023, 17:30, ASTOR

        SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD | SAVVUSANNA SÕSARAD

        SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD | SAVVUSANNA SÕSARAD

        02/10/2023, 19:15, DANAOS 2
        05/10/2023, 19:30, DANAOS 2

        RIDERS ON THE STORM

        RIDERS ON THE STORM

        02/10/2023, 21:45, DANAOS 2
        03/10/2023, 19:30, DANAOS 2

        THE ECHO | EL ECO

        THE ECHO | EL ECO

        05/10/2023, 20:00, DANAOS
        07/10/2023, 21:30, DANAOS 2