JOLIN: The Evolution of my Life

Film phase:Completed

SYNOPSIS

Dongguan, simultaneously the manufacturing hub and inadvertent sex capital of China, is home to 1.7 million female factory workers, 300,000 of which are now former factory girls turned sex workers. Since the government crackdown on prostitution in 2014, an increasing number of women seek to flee Dongguan – and the stigma associated with it. It is here that 22-year-old country girl, Jolin, has worked for the past five years, and where her story begins. The documentary focuses on a former factory girl, Jolin, who is the only child of her family and has found work as a stripper in Dongguan. She undergoes risky plastic surgery to look more “sexy” and tries to find her estranged father for reasons that go beyond healing her fractured family. She hopes to leave Dongguan behind and become a famous actress in Shanghai.

JOLIN: The Evolution of my Life participated in the 2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program). 

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

Jolin is co-directed by Siyan Liu & Danni Wang.

Siyan Liu looking directly ahead. She has dark hair and is wearing a black shirt. She is resting her head on one hand. Black and white portrait.Siyan Liu received her MFA in Social Documentary Film from School of Visual Arts in 2015. She used to be a screenwriter for fiction films in China. She has been working as an assistant director in the Documentary Channel of China Central Television (CCTV-9) for two years. She established BANYAN FILM LLC with her partner Danni Wang in New York City.

 

 

Danni Wang looking directly ahead. She has long dark hair and wears a light-colored top. Black and white portrait.Danni Wang is a Chinese filmmaker based in New York City who graduated from MFA in Social Documentary Film at School of Visual Arts in 2015. Her college student short documentary Family Story was officially selected by China Independent Film Festival in 2013 and Chinese Documentary Festival in 2013.