The stunning debut from Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan, Last Train Home portrays the fractured lives of a migrant family in China. Caught between tradition and the new realities of the globalized economy, the Zhangs abandon their rural home and children to toil in an urban factory, and are only able to return home to their family once a year for the Chinese New Year, along with millions of other migrant workers. Last Train Home is an intimate and powerful piece which should not be missed.

- Lisa Goldberg

Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival * Best, Documentary, Riverrun * Best Feature Length Documentary, IDFA 2009 * Best Canadian Film, RIDM 2009 * Best Feature Documentary, Whistler Festival 2009 * Best Documentary, Victoria Film Festival * Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Feature, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival * Best Cinematography, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival * Sundance Film Festival *

Panel Statement
Last Train Home is an intimate and stirring vérité portrait of a family indelibly impacted by migrant work. Director Lixin Fan melodically weaves private, penetrating glimpses into the fractured Zhang family with vivid sweeps of China, including the desperate train journey of millions of migrant workers to their rural homes for the New Year. Filled with longing, it is an astonishing documentary about hopes and dreams gone astray.

- Agata Smoluch del Sorbo

This moving documentary follows a married couple -- both employed in a Chinese denim factory -- as they partake in the world's largest human migration: the annual voyage of 130 million labourers from urban manufacturing centers to their rural hometowns. A fascinating portrayal of China's social infrastructure problems, as well as an intimate family portrait, Last Train Home is itself an engrossing journey into the lives of average Chinese workers.

- Liane Balaban