The Last Year of Darkness午夜出走
⏰ 16. Sep, 18:00-21:00
📍 Kruttverket, Arnljot Gellines vei 41B, 0657 Oslo
A film by Ben Mullinkosson
Documentary | 95 min | Subtitles in English & Chinese
The story
Funky Town is one of the last safe and free places in Chengdu for free-spirited young adults. But that’s about to change, because the expansion of the subway means the club, which is already surrounded by a construction site, will have to go. The Last Year of Darkness captures the lives of a handful of regulars in scenes that switch from the lyrical to the intensely real.
These twenty-something clubbers are queer, performance artists, DJs—outsiders of every kind. They plod through the days to show off their true splendor at night. Most of their conversations are about trying to find—or create—a place for themselves in the oppressive society around them.
We follow these young adults from the bleak daytime realities of money worries, family arguments and uncertainties, to euphoria in the darkness. In stroboscopic quick-cut scenes set to uplifting techno beats, we see the clubbers coming to life and dancing, flirting, kissing, drinking, smoking—till the inevitable moment when their dream world meets the shock of reality.
Director’s Statement
The Last Year of Darkness is a coming of age documentary about five of the friends I made while drinking and dancing in the underground party scene in Chengdu, China. The film is a celebration of life and a love letter to this wonderful community I’ve been so lucky to be a part of.
This film is really personal to me. Funkytown is where I go to escape my problems, even if only for the night. It’s the epicenter of the underground community in Chengdu where everyone who doesn’t fit into conventional society can feel wild and free. Funkytown has saved our lives. Techno music has saved our lives. My goal for this project was to create a portrait of a temporary utopia and share this intimate space with a larger audience.
I connect deeply with the journeys of my main characters and I hope that folks all around the world will too. Battling depression, questioning your sexuality, the exhaustion that comes from living as an artist, the struggles you face just trying to keep the lights on: these issues have played a part in the defining moments of my life thus far and they’re central to the coming of age stories of each character in the documentary.
By the end of the film, this magical era of Funkytown has come to an end. For reasons out of our protagonists’ control, they have all been pushed into the next stage of their life and this film is meant to be a time capsule dedicated to all of the Funkytown emotion of the past. I hope that audiences will be pleasantly surprised by how much they can relate to each character in the film and I hope they can feel the level of intimacy and vulnerability present on screen.
Book ticket
Entrance fee:
120 kr, 100 kr (students)
VIPPS number:
773618
