One Child Nation (2019): Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s Docu of China One-Child Policy

One Child Nation is an absorbing and informative documentary, directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, about the fallout of China’s one-child policy, which lasted from 1979 to 2015.

The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Fest, where it was awarded the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Award.

It was theatrically released in the U.S. on August 9, 2019, by Amazon Studios, and was nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Documentary.

Both directors Wang and Zhang were born under the one-child policy in China during the 1980s.  However, they knew little of its effects. After moving to the U.S. and getting pregnant with her first child in 2017, Wang returned to China in orde to “explore the direct effects of the ‘population war’ on her family… acquaintances from her rural village, midwives, family planning officials, journalists and artists”