THE WORLD (SHÌJIÈ)
Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Siskel Film Center, Siskel Film Center, Chicago, Illinois
screening
2004, Jia Zhang-ke, China, 139 mins. In Mandarin, Russian, and English with English subtitles. Format: Digital. A missive from the peak years of China's integration with the global capitalist economy, THE WORLD is set in Beijing's World Park, a sprawling theme park featuring scaled replicas of global landmarks. Migrant workers like Tao and Taisheng staff the park and aspire toward better things: love, a dream career in the arts, any sort of future in a place where the ground perpetually shifts under one's feet. Director Jia Zhangke adds moments of digital animation and stylized imagery to evoke the psychological effects of rapid modernization. Part of Contact Zones: Cinema of Globalization, 1989–2024 Fall 2026 Lecture Series.