Smog Town

Han Meng

Release year: 2019

Run time: 89 min

Film type: Documentary

Langfang, about 40 kilometers from Beijing, is one of the most air-polluted cities in China. But at the local environmental protection bureau, deputy chief Li and his assistant Hu are working hard to change this. There’s intense pressure from the leadership in Beijing, and far-reaching measures are needed to combat the fog laced with smoke and exhaust fumes that regularly blankets the city. The steel mill has to close down, teams of inspectors visit environmental offenders, and spray trucks attempt to curb the smog. This observational bureaucratic drama highlights a situation that parallels the global environmental crisis: the urgency to tackle the problem is obvious, but who will pick up the tab? The Chinese government’s strict environmental policy, which includes imposing sanctions on the mayors who are responsible, puts the employees of the environmental protection bureau in a difficult position. How do you navigate between the divergent interests of government, industry and employees affected by the policy?

Han Meng is a documentary director and photographer based in Beijing, who started her career working as a senior photojournalist in China for 12 years. Her most recent feature film, “Smog Town,” premiered at the 2019 IDFA Competition in Amsterdam, and was shortlisted for the 15th FIRST International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Competition, the One World Competition, and the DMZ Asia Competition; It won Best Long Documentary at Millenium International Documentary Festival and DOKU International Film Festival. The short film “Defending the Blue Sky” won Best Short Documentary at the 9th China Documentary Academy Awards. Between 2014 and 2015, she studied journalism at the University of Maryland as part of the Humphrey Fellowship Program. During this period, she completed the photo series “China’s Adoptees at home in America” which was published by the New York Times, South China Morning Post, and many other Chinese and international media. Her photography works have been shortlisted for the Three Shadows Photography Award and the Ying Gallery Photography Award, and have won the Tencent Media Annual Photo Report Award. She was named as a Top Ten Documentary Photographer of the Year. Her documentary “Daughters of Jiangnan” was screened at the Los Angeles Asia Pacific Film Festival, the Hong Kong Asia Film Festival, and others. She served as the preliminary judge for CNEX/CCDF11&12 and for the 13th FIRST International Film Festival.

Film Database

Smog Town