One Child Nation

China’s former one-child-per-family law, in force from 1979 through 2013, is an intensely personal issue for filmmakers Wang and Zhang, both members of China’s loneliest generation.

Now the mother of an infant herself, U.S.-based Wang returns to her hometown to discover the legacy of a policy that she grew up believing was a beneficial national goal, thanks to propaganda bombardment via kitschy commercials, public art, songs, and school pageants. The real story of coercion, forced abortions, mandatory sterilizations, infanticide, and attendant lasting guilt and shame unfolds in gripping first-person narratives. Village officials, family members, neighbors, and even the midwife who delivered Wang spill the terrifying details on how centuries of Chinese cultural reverence for the family and lineage were brutally reversed in a reign of terror aimed at the very root of the family unit. In English and Mandarin with English subtitles.

“Soul-baring and furious…takes a powerful, unflinching look at China’s present through its past."

— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Superb…assembles a huge story together from very small, crucial pieces.”

— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune