Once Upon A Time In Shanghai

Welcome to Shanghai. No, not the Chinese megalopolis full of neon and nouveaux riches, but precisely the opposite: an eponymous neighborhood in Baku. In the distance, skyscrapers built with oil money tower above the city, but here dilapidated houses are packed along a single railway line. The neighborhood is scheduled for demolition. When the director Veit Helmer arrives to shoot his feature film "The Bra", feelings quickly run high. Some locals are afraid that he wants to make them look ridiculous.

Azerbaijani filmmaker Leyli Gafarova films a choppy, playful portrait of Shanghai in the margins of the feature film production. In the guise of a making-of, she shows intimate fragments of life in the slum, while it's still standing.