To Dust Return

Return to Dust (Chinese: 隐入尘烟; pinyin: Yǐn rù chényān) is a Chinese drama film written and directed by Li Ruijun. It had its world premiere at the 2022 Berlinale. The film, which runs to 133 minutes, is mainly spoken in a rural Gansu dialect. It premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, in August 2022, and saw a general release in November. As of September 2022, it had grossed 100 million yuan (US$14 million) at the box office, on a budget of 2 million yuan. Return to Dust was pulled from streaming services in China on 26 September 2022. Western news outlets such as Radio Free Asia reported that mentioning the film on Weibo had been banned. It was later reported by the South China Morning Post that discussion of the film had not been prohibited on Chinese social media, but the reason for its removal from streaming services had not been made clear. Other sources later reported that posts about the film were blocked on Weibo, suggesting that there was a ban on mentioning it. Prior to its recall, a version of the film with an alternative ending was available.