When the Last Tree Dies

A low-budget documentary film by Lynn Zhang & Shirley Han Ying about the water crisis in the North China Plain. It depicts the devastating consequences of water scarcity exacerbated by pollution. The film follows a group of farmers who saw their orchards destroyed by water pollution, and their one-sided struggle against a major corporation and an unsympathetic local government to gain compensation. Through the stories of the individual villagers and the predictions of local experts, we witness a paradise lost to economic progress, and the consequences of doing too little, too late.