„China Reverse“ is a look behind the curtain, at living conditions, memories of the old home, choir performances in dirndls – traditional Austrian dresses, the pressure to succeed and a certain restlessness between the cultures.

(Dolomitenstadt-Magazine, Daniela Ingruber, August 2013)

 

“It isn‘t easy here for people from China,“ a hairdresser agrees with a client who is complaining that his hair is turning white much faster in Austria than it did in China. Sometimes a family was spread across multiple different European countries in the first years. This group of migrants finds work mainly in the food industry, which means: no day off and the own child sits at the first table in the Chinese restaurant, as one Viennese Chinese woman remembers. “Life is over so quickly. In Austria one looks, life has meaning. We work, but we also have to live,“ she says today. When a Chinese man offers his opinion to a colleague about the Schönbrunn Palace, that even the most artistic buildings in Europe can‘t be compared to the Forbidden City, then, as an Austrian, you are not insulted, but relieved. Centuries of cultural history in China are not forgotten that easily.

(Radio FM4, “Crossing Europe, bis nach China”, Maria Motter, April 2014)

 

“Benedikt held almost 100 interviews. The three characters that are portrayed in the movie should represent the experiences of Chinese immigrants in Vienna. Very personal sequences show the mentality of the Chinese men and women who stayed here. They are hardworking, future-oriented, pursue profit and the chance to rise in social status, with flexible business models and the desire for the best education for the next generation. They are modest and can easily adapt and often stay amongst themselves.“

“Benedikt‘s documentary is objective and precise. She offers a very close look into the life of our Chinese fellow-men and women. The approach she has found to the people that are portrayed is admirable.“

(Crossing Europe Filmfestival 2014, “Kino-Brücken nach China”, Timon Mikocki, April 2014)

 

“Not only does it focus on the shifting labor world but particularly the struggles with low income and the working experience in 21st century Europe with an even greater divide in income groups caused by job shortage, cheap labor and the realities of globalization and the high cost of living in the aftermath of the economic crisis in 2008.”

(Celluloid, Steven Yates, October 2014)


'Walk along this path, always forwards… Not too far ahead… there is an intersection. You can go left or straight ahead, but you can’t stop.'

~ from the song „Damo Liulangzhe“