SNEAK PREVIEW Down a broken, banner-festooned alleyway in Dujiangyan City in the southwest province of Sichuan, Grandma Jiang operates a mah-jongg parlor from the house she’s occupied for fifty years. She maintains a playfully sullen presence as she chain-smokes, wryly wishing a recent tumble had killed her—a wish that, as the film progresses, begins to seem darkly prescient. The Vanishing Spring Light is a complex debut from director Xun “Fish” Yu, who finds in his subject a portrait of dignity in the face of the unspeakable. Yu’s film could be an allegory for a bygone China, but its heartbreakingly human face and canny comedy of family manners keep it grounded in the sweat and steam of the real world. Presented by the Consulate General of Canada(KP)