China Blue

Clandestinely shot, China Blue (dir. Micha X. Peled, 2005) follows the 17-year-old factory worker Jasmine and her friends through the meanders of a blue-jeans factory in China. Jasmine, who had to leave her home province for a job in the city, is soon bitterly disillusioned with the harsh working environment she encounters. Despite appallingly low wages, Jasmine and her fellow workers are constrained to work around the clock in order to meet the tight delivery schedules imposed on them by big orders from the West. Fined if found asleep and forbidden to strike, Jasmine and her friends need to find alternatives to their exhaustion in order to keep going. China Blue is a poignant testimony to the persistent inhumanity of the Chinese garment manufacture and a comment on the economic pressures applied by the global fashion industry.