Ash is Purest White

press release: China | 141 minutes | R | DCP | Dir. Jia Zhangke

Set in China's underworld, this tale of love and betrayal follows Qiao, a dancer who fired a gun to protect her mobster boyfriend during a fight. On release from prison 5 years later, she sets out to find him.

"In Qiao, Jia and Zhao have created a heroine whose contradictions are as vexing and exciting as any recent memory . . . the role of a lifetime (in every sense of the word)." - Adam Nayman, Reverse Shot

"Fierce, gripping, emotionally generous and surprisingly funny... a story of thwarted yet oddly resilient love, as well as a beautiful marriage of the political and the personal..." - Justin Chang, LA Times