An unprecedented, intimate portrait of the lives of Christians in rural China.

“A gentle, sympathetic look at the role of faith in a poor rural community” – Richard Kuipers, Variety

A heartbreaking story told with compassion, RAISED FROM DUST sheds light on the unexplored lives of the approximately 40 million Christians in China.

Xiao-Li (Hu Shuli) is a devoted housewife and an active member of her local Catholic church in the Henan farmlands of southern China. Her faith is put to the test as her husband (Zhang Xianmin) is hospitalized with respiratory illness due to unsafe working conditions, leaving his life clinging to an oxygen machine. Forced to work simple jobs to pay for her husband’s hospital care, Xiao-Li takes her young daughter (Lu Shengyue) out of school, unable to pay for tuition. She finds support only from fellow members of her congregation. But will her faith and devotion be enough to save her family?

Filmed with a beautiful eye for both vast rural landscapes and human intimacy, RAISED FROM DUST explores the lives of those rarely seen in modern-day China, and announces Gan Xiao’Er as a new major talent in world cinema.

Gan Xiao’er is an independent filmmaker based in China. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1998 and has been teaching at the South China Normal University since his graduation. He set up The Seventh Seal Film Workshop in 2000 with a commitment to producing feature films that explore the spiritual life of the Chinese. The Seventh Seal Film Workshop has completed two films, The Only Sons and RAISED FROM DUST.