Tombée de nuit sur Shanghaï is Akerman’s contribution to the collective film L’état du monde (The State of the World, 2007), which includes short films on that subject by Pedro Costa, Vicente Ferraz, Wang Bing and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, commissioned by the Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Akerman's "Nightfall Over Shanghai (April 2007)" consists of little more than long-held vid shots of Shanghai skyscrapers and a floating boat, bearing giant video displays of consumer products and familiar images such as Da Vinci's "La Giaconda."