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Beijing Taxi

Directed by Miao Wang

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SXSW FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
SIDEWALK FILM FESTIVAL
OPENING NIGHT FILM
MARTHA'S VINEYARD FILM FESTIVAL
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INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL OF BOSTON
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STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL
Beijing Taxi still

2010, 78 min

BEIJING TAXI is a feature-length documentary that vividly portrays the ancient capital of China undergoing a profound transformation. The intimate lives of three taxi drivers are seen through a humanistic lens as they navigate a quickly morphing city, confronting modern issues and changing values. The three protagonists radiate a warm sense of humanity despite the struggles that each faces in adapting to new realities of life in the modern city. With stunning imagery of Beijing and a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, BEIJING TAXI communicates a visceral sense of the common citizens’ persistent attempts to grasp the elusive.

Press

Interesting and Poignant… An attractive and seamless set of images of working-class Chinese life… Elegantly Framed

Mike Hale, The New York Times

Mesmerizing

Unique perspectives... Imagistic... Revealing... Engrossing

Ronnie Scheib, Variety

There's something transformative going on in the streets, no doubt, and Soviet kinetic-kino pioneer Dziga Vertov might have liked the film's ethos of a nation on the move.

Nicolas Rapold, The Village Voice

An Outstanding Ride... dips us under the mainstream media's radar screen and places us in the seat of a journey through the capital of China: a lyrical, funny and at times bitter journey... It's gritty and it's beautiful; the focus on the subjects is sharp, yet you also get a sense of the larger China...

Stewart Nusbaumer, The Huffington Post

Strikingly gorgeous... Revelatory, an admirably formal presentation of the baseline texture of contemporary Beijing. It's not just valuable for the record, it's elegant in the process.

Vadim Rizov, Green Cine

Shadowing the ups and bunny-hill downs of three cabbies, Wang's documentary will entreat loads of audiences to get first hand-to-mouth evidence that a nation's prosperity doesn't turn every bean into magical stalk.

Matthew Niestel, Box Office Magazine

Wang has a gift for defamiliarization, transforming the everyday into something beguiling...

Victoria Large, Notcoming.com

Rich and culturally challenging.

Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle

Quiet, beautiful, contemplative.

Math, Austinist

The characters in the film are reality-television compelling, and Wang... matches an outsiders fascination about everything with an emigrant's appreciation for what Beijing is leaving behind in their embrace of modernity.

Martin L. Johnson, Baltimore City Paper

Beijing Taxi functions on a much higher level...

Don Simpson, Smells Like Screen Spirit