Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress is a coming-of-age tale set during China's cultural revolution. It is a story about youth and love and courage, but mostly it's about the transformative power of books.

Luo (Chen Kun) and Ma (Liu Ye) are teenagers who have been sent into the country in the '70s for re-education. As the sons of "reactionary intellectuals" (one's father is a dentist) these young men are sent to a village in the mountains to learn to live with the general population. This entails endless labour, such as working the fields and in the mines.
Full Story