Xianshi shi guoqu de weilai

Bear paws in the middle of a supermarket’s frozen foods, an alligator on the loose. Disorder is a parallel edit of bizarre events, filmed by talented amateur filmmakers and put together by Weikai Huang in grainy black and white, as a hymn to Canton, both cruel and comical, violent and absurd. These images are reminiscent of Weegee’s New York in their brutality and contrasts-in their making too, as the amateur reporters are often tipped off by institutions, firemen, hospital casualty staff and road safety departments so they can be on the spot as the event unfolds. The result is an eyewitness account that is more faithful, more spontaneous-and more sincere, than the lukewarm and codified discourse of the televised news. (Yann Lardeau)