China's 3 Dreams

From award-winning director Nick Torrens, this absorbing documentary about the changing face of China is both intriguing and confrontational.

Once China’s ordinary citizens dreamed of a watch, a bicycle and a radio. Today they strive for wealth and a better life, often to the detriment of family and tradition. The generation gap widens as grandparents are reluctant to speak of their experiences during the Cultural Revolution and grandchildren are only concerned with material gains, saying, “I’d rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle.”

Confused by the expurgated history they learned at school, the subjects of this film are making their way with three new dreams to guide them: the dream of the present, to make China rich and powerful, the dream of the future, to find a personally better life; and the almost-impossible dream of the past, the dream of meaningful existence. 

Twelve years in the making and featuring rare archive and powerful personal testimony from former Red Guards, China’s 3 Dreams opens the door on the past and questions its impact on the present.