An abandoned Chinese city is the backdrop for a haunting fable on capitalism
The city of Kangbashi in northern China is empty. Although its owners continue to make a profit by speculating on rising property values, the city – complete with towering apartment complexes and elaborate recreation centres – is almost completely uninhabited. As the camera explores deserted rooftops and empty streets, a narrator begins a story – a modern fable about a cathedral built of money. Written by Michael Ende, the author of the children’s book The Neverending Story, the tale describes a church full of money-worshippers, for whom ‘Money is Truth’ and ‘Truth is a Commodity’.
Director: Konrad Kaestner
Producer: Fabian Gasmia

videoChildhood and adolescence
A neglected Dominican sugar town, as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old local
11 minutes

videoArchitecture
Steep climbs lead to sacred spaces carved high into the cliffs of Ethiopia
9 minutes

videoThinkers and theories
The prison abolitionist who dares to envision a world without ‘unfreedoms’
16 minutes

videoArchitecture
A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture
14 minutes

videoEconomics
A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey
13 minutes

videoSocial psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
18 minutes

videoArchitecture
A 3D rendering of the Colosseum captures its architectural genius and symbolic power
17 minutes

videoFairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
10 minutes

videoArt
The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles
7 minutes