The Graduates

The Graduates a film by GAO Song

Three graduates try to find their first job after university During the summer of 2004, three Chinese students, Feng Haitao, Li Yuchun and Jin Lian successfully graduate from Sichuan University. They start to look for a job in one of the larger provincial capitals, Chengdu, thus attempting to find their new place in society. But their quest meets the pitiless « real world » which shows little interest in their school performances. This documentary follows their daily lives, observes their hopes and their doubts, and witnesses their despair. The film thus describes the pressures of a money-driven contemporary society as it develops with so-called economic reforms. The values associated with universities studies seem to lose their traditional place in favour of materialistic values. As we follow and observe very intimately the heart-breaking quest of each of the three characters, we start to perceive China’s youth as a whole, and cannot but ask ourselves what kind of place