In the Dark, a film by Jingyu (Gloria) Ge, Yizhe Ling, and Fangrou Zhou, uses a combination of video, manipulated still imagery, and bilingual (English/Mandarin) subtitles to describe a near-future world in which humans continue to over-pollute the environment. This future world is so polluted that the thickened air blocks sunshine, leaving people to live in complete darkness. Any form of light is considered a rare scene of beauty. Without any way to reverse the pollution, a new form of light was invented which is powered by pollutants. People thought that transferring pollution to create light and generate electricity would solve their problems and make life easier; however, all they did was generate more pollution. Soon, the disposable pollution-consuming lights start piling up as well because pollution had already become a part of the norm.
Ge, Ling, and Zhou see this film as a reminder for people to appreciate what they have while they still have it. The gorgeous lights that appear throughout the video serve as a warning, raising the question: is the Earth still salvageable, or
is it too late? It is up to viewers to decide whether this is the world that they would like to live in, or whether to take one step at a time toward conserving the planet while people still can.