SHENCHI LI BAI'S 18 HOURS

Set against the frigid -20°C winter of Shanxi’s Shenchi County during the most romantic Lunar New Year, the 40-minute documentary Shenchi Li Bai captures 18 hours of continuous filming on New Year’s Eve—from intoxication to sobriety—chronicling the life of 53-year-old wall-painter “Shenchi Li Bai,” a gifted yet ordinary man whose raw footage reveals his drunken musings on art, midnight scavenging, and a “crippled romance” that binds him to his decaying hometown.