Hundreds of miles from home.
Caught between obligation and opportunity.
A young woman of 17, and a life beyond the farms of China.
Chinese New Year - the most important holiday of the year in China. The mass exodus of migrant workers from the south has begun. Xu Li Li is among them. She will travel for three days - over a thousand miles - to reach her family. She is but one of millions of young women who leave the farms of China in search of a better life.
They are known as the da gong mei... the working sisters.
BACKGROUND
Working Sister has already lived many lives: at festivals, on the National Geographic Asia channel and in the classroom via educational distribution. I'm proud to share it online with you now and hope you enjoy it. Filmed on and off for over a year, Working Sister was made with a small crew in Guangdong and Anhui, China. As the story suggests, the journey back to Li Li's village took three days, by truck and train and over some very muddy ground in the middle of winter.
CREW
Producer / Director / Writer: Jennifer Stephens (Deayton)
Producer / Interviewer: Ellen Chu
Executive Producer: Paul Deayton
Cinematographer: Ra'up McGee
Cinematographer: David Peters
Offline Editor: Chan Chung Ki
Online Editor: Andrew 'Boz' Burrows
Music: Inon Zur
HONORS
Screenings: Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival, BBC Short Film Festival, Cork Film Festival.
Awards: Certificate of Merit, Worldfest Houston Film Festival.
Nominations: International Documentary Association Outstanding Short Documentary and IDA Pare Lorentz Award.
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