Amid the Sino-Japanese and civil wars in the 1930s and 1940s, many patriotic young intellectuals joined the Chinese Communist Party out of a fervent desire to 'save the nation'. Attracted by its promises of freedom, democracy and equality, these underground party members braved arrest, torture and prison under the Nationalist government to fight for a communist utopia. After 1949, following an initial period of euphoria, they found themselves painfully struggling between their twin goals of democracy and revolution under the Mao regime.

Themes of displacement, migration and hospitality have been at the heart of Marc Isaacs’ films for many years. From his documentation of refugees in Calais to his detailed studies of xenophobia among English communities, Isaacs has turned his camera on the complex lives and contradictory attitudes that surround us. A recent feature in Sight and Sound describes Isaacs’ filmmaking as capturing “a sense of transience and instability that is universal.” His films are “set in nebulous or liminal spaces” that take us deep into the lives of others.