Fujian Blue

In the early 1980’s, Chinese province Fujian was one of the first areas in the country to experience the communist regimes new open door policy. The region quickly turned into a Mecca for illegal immigration, and Fujian became a fusion of eastern and western culture. This is the backdrop for Fujian Blue, where luxurious suburban homes house so-called remittance widows, whose husbands successfully has managed to flee the country and can send cash back to the family. The flipside of the coin are the poor unfortunates who are deported back to China, forever indebt to the hardcore smugglers.

The movie follows a crew of delinquent extortionists, who use blackmail as a way to finance a decadent lifestyle of drugs and karaoke clubs. The young gangsters’ targets are remittance widows who have been compromised with their lovers by the gang. But for one of them, Dragon, the purpose behind the scheme is quite different: he’s struggling to pay off his family’s debt.

Shot on location in Fujian with a cast of rookie actors, Robin Weng thoroughly examines his home region and its adaptation to western capitalism and the consequences of the vast economic gap.