Living the Land
Opening at Film Forum on April 3, 2026, Chinese filmmaker Huo Meng’s latest film LIVING THE LAND.
In his sophomore outing, emerging auteur Huo Meng paints the sweeping story of one family in a wheat-farming community against the backdrop of China’s transformation into a global industrial powerhouse in the early ‘90s. For 10-year-old Chuang, these tectonic forces mean just one thing: his parents must go work in the city, leaving him behind in his maternal family’s village. Drama unfolds naturally from Chuang’s remote and sensitive perspective. Under the charge of brassy great-grandmother Li and young, independent-minded Auntie Xiuying, while keeping company Jihua, his cousin with a disability, Chuang bears witness to seasons of a deeply-rooted but disappearing way of life.
After winning the Silver Bear for Best Directing at the 2025 Berlinale, LIVING THE LAND has played numerous festivals around the world and in North America – including Vancouver Film Festival, Hawaii Film Festival, AFI Fest, and more where it’s been universally praised for its elliptical and elegant nature and directorial vision. The film will have its theatrical premiere in NYC at Film Forum on April 3 with screenings through April 9 (with possible extension). Tickets on sale now.
“There’s a patient, plainspoken poetry… to “Living the Land,” a rolling rural drama that… feels wholly, organically observed, as if its storytelling were dictated by the rigors and challenges of seasons and soil. [I]mpressive…” - Variety
“From its very first scene… we know we’re in the hands of a skillful filmmaker. [A] richly detailed fresco reminiscent of a classic pastoral novel — think Thomas Hardy, Willa Cather or D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers — where life’s many hardships come and go with each new season, and where technology arrives without warning to change things forever.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“[D]eeply poignant yet staunchly unsentimental… beautifully crafted…” - Screen Daily
“Huo Meng’s extraordinary second feature about countryside and country on the precipice of change… [is] extremely handsome and involving…”- IndieWire
“[A] rich, warm portrait… Huo’s lovely roving eye for composition and gentle hand with drama trace the challenges and enduring bonds among several hard-working generations of farmers.” - Deadline Hollywood
A Film Movement release.