​The Youth of Fireworks

From the concrete bunkers carved into the hillside, where workers gingerly handle piles of explosive black powder, to the shopfronts selling colourful boxes of pyrotechnics, time may be catching up with Liuyang's millennium-old fireworks industry.

 

Government efforts to curb pollution have led to bans on fireworks in 444 cities across China since 2016. The sweeping bans have hit fireworks manufacturers already scrambling to adapt to shifting demographics and consumer trends. Numerous shopfronts were shuttered.

 

This film followed a young apprentice in the fireworks industry, revealing how a deteriorating industry impacts a young man’s pathway.