Wang Bing (Chinese: 王兵; pinyin: Wáng Bīng; born 1967) is a Chinese director, often referred to as one of the foremost figures in documentary film-making.[1] Wang is the founder of his own production company, Wang Bing Studios, which produces most of his films. His movie on Chinese labour camps, The Ditch, was included in the 2010 Venice Film Festival as the film sorpresa.[2]
Wang Bing | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 November 1967 |
| Occupation | Documentary filmmaker |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Awards | Grand Prix - FIDMarseilles Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize 2003 Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize 2007 Fengming, a Chinese Memoir Regard d'or Grande Prémio Cidade de Lisboa 2012 Three Sisters Grande Prémio Cidade de Lisboa 2014 Father and Sons Golden Leopard 2017 Mrs. Fang |
Recognition
editTie Xi Qu, Wang's 9 hour epic documentary of industrial China, was considered a major success. Tie Xi Qu went on to win the Grand Prix at the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film and was shown for the first time in Spain at the Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival. Wang's film Fengming, a Chinese Memoir, premiered at both Cannes[1] and Toronto in 2007. Crude Oil premiered at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. Since then, his films became a staple at every prestigious international film festival. 2017's Mrs. Fang was awarded the Golden Leopard at the 70th Locarno Festival.
French philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman dedicated a long epilogue to Wang Bing in his 2012 book, Peuples exposés, peuples figurants. He reflects on the social fate of images thoroughly analyzing Wang's 2010 Man with No Name, writing that the director, as a humble portrait artist of a single rural worker, manages to represent the whole of China's people (as well as people from all over the World) "not through his past, nor his ideas, nor his name, nor his place in society, but through the simple gestures with which he works at his solitary life",[3] as opposed to the common epic portraits of national identity based on military prowess, war heroes and manifest destinies.
Political views
editIn December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Wang Bing signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.[4][5][6]
Censorship in China
editShortly after Wang's Youth (Homecoming) was selected for the main competition section at the 81st Venice International Film Festival,[7] Chinese websites including Douban and Baidu Baike erased Wang's profile page and the entirety of his filmography.[8][9] News websites such as Sohu had previously reported on Wang's Golden Lion nomination, but the articles were subsequently taken offline.[8] References to Wang on Chinese social media were also censored.[10] Wang has also been effectively barred from returning to China after his passport expired in France, as the Chinese government refused to renew it in the early years of the decade.[11] At the 62nd New York Film Festival, where both Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) screened in the Main Slate,[12] Wang told the audience that he did not care about China's official censorship.[13] Previously at the 2023 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, where Wang was invited as the Guest of Honor,[14] he stated that he did not want his films to "become a political tool", and that he wanted to step away from "the big machine that runs in China, the process of basically making everything propaganda in a way."[15]
Filmography
edit| Year | English Title | Chinese Title | Runtime | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | West of the Tracks | 铁西区 | 551 minutes
(9:11) |
Grand Prix at the 2003 Marseille Festival of Documentary Film Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival |
| 2007 | Fengming, a Chinese Memoir | 和凤鸣 | 184 minutes
(3:04) |
Premiered at the 60th Cannes Film Festival Screened at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival |
| Brutality Factory | 暴力工厂 | Short in the anthology The State of the World | ||
| 2008 | Crude Oil | 採油日記 | 840 minutes
(14:00) |
Premiered at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam |
| 2009 | Coal Money | 煤炭，钱 | 53 minutes
(00:53) |
|
| 2010 | Man with No Name | 无名者 | 92 minutes
(1:32) |
|
| The Ditch | 夹边沟 | 109 minutes
(1:49) |
Premiered at the 67th Venice International Film Festival[16] Screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival | |
| 2012 | Three Sisters | 三姊妹 | 153 minutes
(2:33) |
Premiered at 69th Venice International Film Festival[17] Regard d'or at the 27th Fribourg International Film Festival Grande Prémio Cidade de Lisboa at Doclisboa 2012 |
| 2013 | 'Til Madness Do Us Part | 瘋愛 | 228 minutes
(3:48) |
Premiered at the 70th Venice International Film Festival |
| Alone | 孤独 | 89 minutes
(1:29) |
||
| 2014 | Father and Sons | 父与子 | 97 minutes
(1:37) |
Grande Prémio Cidade de Lisboa at Doclisboa 2014 |
| 2014 | Traces | 遗址 | ||
| 2016 | Ta'ang | 德昂 | 148 minutes
(2:28) |
Premiered at Berlinale 2016 |
| Bitter Money | 苦錢 | 152 minutes
(2:32) |
Premiered at 73rd Venice International Film Festival | |
| 2017 | Mrs. Fang | 方绣英 | 86 minutes
(1:26) |
Golden Leopard at the 70th Locarno Festival |
| 15 Hours | 15小时 | 900 minutes
(15:00) |
Premiered at documenta 14 | |
| 2018 | Dead Souls | 死灵魂 | 495 minutes
(8:15) |
Premiered at 2018 Cannes Film Festival |
| Beauty Lives in Freedom | 330 minutes
(5:30) |
Premiered at the Asia Society | ||
| 2023 | Youth (Spring) | 青春：春 | 212 minutes
(3:32) |
Premiered at the Palm d'Or competition of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival |
| Man in Black | 黑衣人 | 60 minutes
(1:00) |
Premiered at the Special Screenings section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival | |
| 2024 | Youth (Hard Times) | 青春：苦 | 227 minutes | Premiered at the 77th Locarno Film Festival |
| Youth (Homecoming) | 青春：歸 | 152 minutes | Premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival |
References
edit- ^ a b Koehler, Robert (2007-05-20). "Fengming: A Chinese Memoir- Cannes Film Festival Review". Variety. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Obsessed With Film, Venice 2010 Review: THE DITCH; the “film a sorpresa” that couldn’t live up to last year’s Herzog, September 6, 2010
- ^ Didi-Huberman, Peuples exposés, peuples figurants. L'Oeil de l'histoire, 4, Minuit, 2012, pp. 235-257
- ^ "Gaza : des cinéastes du monde entier demandent un cessez-le-feu immédiat". Libération (in French). 28 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Newman, Nick (29 December 2023). "Claire Denis, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Christian Petzold, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & More Sign Demand for Ceasefire in Gaza". The Film Stage. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Directors of cinema sign petition for immediate ceasefire". The Jerusalem Post. 31 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Jones, Marcus (2024-07-23). "Venice 2024 Analysis: Brutal Running Times, 'Babygirl,' and More Surprises". IndieWire. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ a b "中国导演才入围威尼斯影展 百度豆瓣上"被消失" | 联合早报". Lianhe Zaobao (in Simplified Chinese). 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ Cuevas, David (2024-08-21). "Youth (Hard Times) Review: Big Trouble in Zhejiang Province". POV Magazine. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ "中名導入圍威尼斯 踩紅線作品全下架". Guang Ming Daily (in Traditional Chinese). 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ McCracken, Matt (2024-11-07). "Youth (Homecoming) — Wang Bing". In Review Online. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ Aguiar, Annie (2024-08-06). "Festival Winners Crowd New York Film Festival Main Slate Lineup". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ "王兵再臨紐約影展 紀錄片揭勞工困境 嗆中國「不在乎封殺」". World Journal (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ Dalton, Ben (2023-08-30). "IDFA 2023 to celebrate Wang Bing, Peter Greenaway". Screen International. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ Ross, Rafa Sales (2023-11-11). "IDFA Guest of Honor Wang Bing Discusses Chinese Censorship, Upcoming Trilogy and Politics: 'I Don't Want My Films to Become a Political Tool'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ^ "La Biennale di Venezia - The Ditch".
- ^ "La Biennale di Venezia - Orizzonti".
Further reading
edit- Caroline Renard, Isabelle Anselme, François Amy de La Bretèque (ed.): Wang bing: Un cinéaste en Chine aujourd'hui, Aix-en-Provence : Presses universitaires de Provence, 2014, engl. Wang Bing, making movies in China today, Aix-en-Provence : Presses universitaires de Provence, 2015
- Elena Pollacchi: Wang Bing's filmmaking of the China dream : narratives, witnesses and marginal space, Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2021
- Wang Bing: Wang Bing - The Walking Eye, Amsterdam, Paris: Roma Publications : LE 2021, 832 p.
- Michael Guarneri: Conversations with Wang Bing, Bologna: Piretti, 2024
- Bruno Lessard: The cinema of Wang Bing : Chinese Documentary between History and Labor, Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press , 2024
- Julie Savelli: Wang Bing. L'acte infini d'image: Anthropologie d'un art post-documentaire, Paris: Hermann 2024
External links
edit- Wang Bing at IMDb
- ejumpcut.org
- «I am just a simple individual who films what he loves to film». Interview with Wang Bing La furia umana, n. 20, Summer 2014 [lafuriaumana.it]
- Interview: Wang Bing Film Comment, February 2017
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