China’s rapid economic development has left behind vast rural areas still fighting for basic survival needs. A local doctor’s personal quest to bring transformative healthcare to the remote villages of northwest China reveals an intimate portrait of an unobserved rural community. Restoring the Light explores how the doctor and two disabled families–including an inspired young woman, her brave grandmother and an optimistic young boy–retain hope and resilience in the face of enormous social and economic pressures that threaten to unravel their lives.

Restoring the Light is an hour-long documentary about the spirit of resilience and hope of several rural families in China: A young woman who, despite a debilitating bone infection, manages to pursue her dream to attend university and become an artist. Her grandmother, who has lived in a cave dwelling for over sixty years and who still toils in the field even though she has lost her vision to cataracts. A young boy who wants to become a truck driver and maintains optimism in spite of his blindness. And a doctor who gives up his home in order to run a mobile clinic for the underserved.

The film reveals the human stories behind China’s urban-centric economic boom and explores what happens to the millions who are left behind and must struggle for basic survival and inadequate access to healthcare and education. In today’s media, we watch many stories about China’s rise but seldom do we see the struggles of the countryside represented in compassionate detail. This film is more than just a portrait of rural China; it is an exploration of how people maintain hope and resilience while facing tremendous forces of social and economic change.

Restoring the Light trailer

Restoring the Light Preview