The database is still under construction and will constantly be updated. A link to the archive catalogue will be added at a later stage. Search the film archive for the film title, director or the year it was made.
Stratum 1: The Visitors
Cong Feng
Release year: 2013
Run time: 127 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
Originally envisioned as a documentary about urban demolition in Tongzhou, a suburb of Beijing, the director decided that a more essayistic approach to the subject matter was required to do it justice. Guided by two characters as they walk through the rubble, we hear stories of childhood trauma that accompany hallucinatory scenes of urban devastation. Cong uncovers surreally beautiful images from the layers of this collapsing world, excavating its history even as this is threatened with erasure and forgetting.
Director biography
CONG Feng, born in Chengde in 1972, is a filmmaker and writer, and serves on the editorial board of Film Auteur. He has previously worked at the National Satellite Meteorology Centre of China and as cultural editor for The International Herald Leader. His major films include Stratum I: The Visitors (2013), Stratum II: Asthenosphere (2021), and Another Part of the World: Ghosts and Their After-Images (2024), among others. His most recent publication is a poetry collection titled So-Called History (2025).
