“The World” was Jia Zhang-ke‘s first film to gain official approval from the Chinese government and the first to take place outside his home province of Shanxi. It was filmed in and around an actual theme park in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. This setting gives the film an overall ironic hypostasis while highlighting a number of themes regarding the advent of technology in China and globalization. Let us take things from the beginning, though.

The World is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas

The story, as usual in Jia’s films, revolves around a group of people, this time, migrant workers employed at Beijing World Park, a surreal microcosm of the world’s most famous landmarks. Two of these workers, Tao, a dancer, and Taisheng, a security guard, are a couple, but as the story begins,...