Plenty of Chinese documentaries look at the nation's poor and disenfranchised - The Transition Period gives us a rare peek into Chinese life from the other side.

Director Zhou Hao was given access to follow Guo Yongchang during his last months in office as party secretary of an underdeveloped county in Henan Province, central China. It's all here - the backroom manipulations of political processes, the divvying up of “gifts”, the constant dance to keep disgruntled workers and farmers on side, and the endless drunken banquets on the public purse. The amazing thing about The Transition Period is not that these scenes take place, but the fact that Guo lets Zhou Hao capture it all on camera, revealing a political caste that truly takes its power for granted.

“A rare, fascinating look at how the Chinese government operates.” - Associated Press

D/P/S Zhou Hao WS dGenerate Films L Mandarin, Henan dialect w/English subtitles TD digibeta/2009

Read curator Dan Edwards' extended article on Chinese indie documentary at Senses of Cinema.