The Last Year of Darkness

An American filmmaker now living in Chengdu, the affectionately nicknamed 笨笨 (Benjamin Mullinkosson), introduces us to the city’s queer nightlife. His friends are an eclectic group of DJs, drag performers, and skaters, navigating their identities and traditional backgrounds in a rapidly changing landscape. Crucially, their safe haven - Funky Town nightclub - will soon be demolished as a result of city construction planning. This is a documentary that engulfs its viewer. It makes you nostalgic for experiences you had long ago, or had last night, or may never have had. The raw seductiveness and vulnerability of the film’s subjects makes those coming-of-age moments seem all the more fleeting. Even more than that, the film offers a necessary glimpse into what youth culture looks like in China, a country so often demonised in Western media.