Return to Dust

Return to Dust is a Chinese drama film written and directed by Li Ruijun. It had its world premiere at the 2022 Berlinale. The film, which runs to 133 minutes, is mainly spoken in a rural Gansu dialect. It premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, in August 2022, and saw a general release in November. As of September 2022, it had grossed 100 million yuan (US$14 million) at the box office, on a budget of 2 million yuan. Return to Dust was pulled from streaming services in China on 26 September 2022. Western news outlets such as Radio Free Asia reported that mentioning the film on Weibo had been banned. It was later reported by the South China Morning Post that discussion of the film had not been prohibited on Chinese social media, but the reason for its removal from streaming services had not been made clear. Other sources later reported that posts about the film were blocked on Weibo, suggesting that there was a ban on mentioning it. Prior to its recall, a version of the film with an alternative ending was available. Synopsis The story follows the lives of Ma Youtie and Cao Guiying in rural Gansu throughout the year of 2011. Guiying is a disabled, incontinent, and infertile middle-aged woman who has been mistreated by her family, and is past the normal age by which women are normally expected to be married in rural China. Youtie is a middle-aged poor farmer who lives a simple life. Their families arrange for the two to marry, and the couple gradually develops an emotional closeness and tenderness. They lead a simple life, farming with their donkey. There are many empty properties in their village, and they move into one of them. However, the owner, who had migrated to Shenzhen in search of work, unexpectedly returns after finding out about a government incentive granting substantial cash payment to homeowners who allow their poorly built and unoccupied houses to be demolished. Youtie and Guiying move to another unoccupied property, before they decide to build their own homestead. They use mud bricks that they make themselves, and old wooden posts salvaged from previous demolitions.