Wang Bing

Wang Bing is one of the greatest documentary-makers alive today, and his films offer a very insightful overview of the transformations occurring in Chinese society. Here, Dominique Auvray conducts an interview that, in addition to the biographical information, focuses above all on the relationship with things unsaid: Wang Bing attempts to do justice to his theme and the testimonies he’s gathered, but he stumbles over the words, struggling to keep his emotions in check. The pain of tackling history shows through the awkward speech.

One day my old friend Wang Bing, a Chinese director living in Beijing, called me and suggested to go to Yunnan where he shoots a documentary. I've always been curious about his shooting scene. All along the winter I've followed Wang Bing with my camera from the psychiatric hospital in the nameless suburb city to the jungle near the border to Laos. There are the zona folded in wind and fog. This documentary is the record of that winter, the essay about the people of China, and the adventure-action movie done by friendship.

Liming is a worker district close to Shanghai – the richest city in China. Every year, many young people leave their villages and move there. They are between 17 and 20, all from rural Yunnan Province, 2,500 km west, where the Yangtze River has its source. These young Yunnanese often live at their place of work, in dormitories, unsanitary rooms, or sometimes in small studios. Time and space to meet is missing them. So they communicate through QQ, MSN China. They live as adults but they are teenagers, and the unstable situation, economic pressures, geographical dispersion, burn their innocence and youth. Wang Bing will spend a year with them in Liming: at work, at home, on the Internet, every day of their professional, romantic, and friendly relations. At the end of the year he will follow them in the opposite direction to their province of origin, to be with their family and celebrate Chinese New Year.

中国史の闇といわれている「反右派闘争」に迫った、全三部、8時間を超えるドキュメンタリー大作。1950年代後半、中国共産党によって突然「反動的な右派」と名指しされた55万人もの人が理由もわからずに収容所へ送られた「反右派闘争」。収容所は世界的な大飢饉も重なり、大量の餓死者が続出する地獄のような状況と化した。生存率10％とも言われた収容所から生き延びた人びとが、半世紀以上の時を経てカメラの前で語る体験の数々。山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭2019のインターナショナル・コンペティション部門で上映され、ロバート＆フランシス・フラハティ賞（大賞）と市民賞（観客賞）をダブル受賞した。

中国史の闇といわれている「反右派闘争」に迫った、全三部、8時間を超えるドキュメンタリー大作。1950年代後半、中国共産党によって突然「反動的な右派」と名指しされた55万人もの人が理由もわからずに収容所へ送られた「反右派闘争」。収容所は世界的な大飢饉も重なり、大量の餓死者が続出する地獄のような状況と化した。生存率10％とも言われた収容所から生き延びた人びとが、半世紀以上の時を経てカメラの前で語る体験の数々。山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭2019のインターナショナル・コンペティション部門で上映され、ロバート＆フランシス・フラハティ賞（大賞）と市民賞（観客賞）をダブル受賞した。

中国史の闇といわれている「反右派闘争」に迫った、全三部、8時間を超えるドキュメンタリー大作。1950年代後半、中国共産党によって突然「反動的な右派」と名指しされた55万人もの人が理由もわからずに収容所へ送られた「反右派闘争」。収容所は世界的な大飢饉も重なり、大量の餓死者が続出する地獄のような状況と化した。生存率10％とも言われた収容所から生き延びた人びとが、半世紀以上の時を経てカメラの前で語る体験の数々。山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭2019のインターナショナル・コンペティション部門で上映され、ロバート＆フランシス・フラハティ賞（大賞）と市民賞（観客賞）をダブル受賞した。

中国史の闇といわれている「反右派闘争」に迫った、全三部、8時間を超えるドキュメンタリー大作。1950年代後半、中国共産党によって突然「反動的な右派」と名指しされた55万人もの人が理由もわからずに収容所へ送られた「反右派闘争」。収容所は世界的な大飢饉も重なり、大量の餓死者が続出する地獄のような状況と化した。生存率10％とも言われた収容所から生き延びた人びとが、半世紀以上の時を経てカメラの前で語る体験の数々。山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭2019のインターナショナル・コンペティション部門で上映され、ロバート＆フランシス・フラハティ賞（大賞）と市民賞（観客賞）をダブル受賞した。

Gao Ertai (1931) is an artist, teacher, philosopher who, in the 1950s, was imprisoned in the Jiabiangou Labour Camp. The film works as a diptych with Fengming, the confessional story of another victim of reprisals, and closes a vast film series on those who disappeared.

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

The town of Zhili accounts for 80 percent of China's output of children's clothes. 15 Hours was shot in August 2016. Zhili, part of the city of Huzhou in the province of Zhejiang, is home to around 18,000 small factories for children's clothing, manned throughout the year by over 200,000 migrant workers. In the 1980s, Zhejiang saw the emergence of a private capital-based garment industry open to any and all operators prepared to invest in flexible business models based on mutual credit or leasing. This film documents one day in the lives of the workers of 68 Xisheng Road in Zhili.

In a fast growing city of East China, migrants have been arriving and living for a dream of a better life. But what they find there is little opportunities and poor living conditions that push people, even couples, into violent and oppressive relations. Xiao Min, Ling Ling and Lao Yeh are some of the characters of this bitter chronicle of today China.

The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.

The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.

The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Wang Bing filmed "Traces" in 2005, during the search for locations for his film "The Ditch", in former "labour camps" in the Gobi Desert, where thousand of political prisoners had died of hunger. For the first time, he used 35mm black and white film (a gift from artist Yang Fudong) to capture this landscape condemned to disappear. With no sound, the film records the final, barely visible traces of human lives: bones, clothing, footsteps... Drawing on experimental documentary, this short video echoes other subjects dear to Wang Bing : the story of the campaign against the "rightist elements" in the early 1950s and the reeducation and hard labour camps established before the Cultural Revolution. This film, which was not edited until 2014, was first presented at the Centre Pompidou the same year and then again at the Galerie Chantal Crousel in 2018.

In 2010, while he was filming "Three Sisters" in the mountain of Yunnan province, Wang Bing met two teenagers, Yonggao and Yongjin, whose father, a stonemason, had gone to the city in the hope of finding work. Wang Bing met up with them again in 2014, when they had been reunited with their father after four years in Fumin. For about a month, Wang Bing filmed their daily lives in the single squalid room that was their home. The fixed camera recorded the micro-events that punctuated their days : their father leaving for work, the youngsters themselves waking up, breakfast time, in front of the television, etc.

In 2010, while he was filming "Three Sisters" in the mountain of Yunnan province, Wang Bing met two teenagers, Yonggao and Yongjin, whose father, a stonemason, had gone to the city in the hope of finding work. Wang Bing met up with them again in 2014, when they had been reunited with their father after four years in Fumin. For about a month, Wang Bing filmed their daily lives in the single squalid room that was their home. The fixed camera recorded the micro-events that punctuated their days : their father leaving for work, the youngsters themselves waking up, breakfast time, in front of the television, etc.

In 2010, while he was filming "Three Sisters" in the mountain of Yunnan province, Wang Bing met two teenagers, Yonggao and Yongjin, whose father, a stonemason, had gone to the city in the hope of finding work. Wang Bing met up with them again in 2014, when they had been reunited with their father after four years in Fumin. For about a month, Wang Bing filmed their daily lives in the single squalid room that was their home. The fixed camera recorded the micro-events that punctuated their days : their father leaving for work, the youngsters themselves waking up, breakfast time, in front of the television, etc.

中国・雲南省の隔離された精神病院に3カ月半密着。前後二編で構成されたドキュメンタリー。その病院には、暴力的な患者、非暴力的な患者、法的に精神異常というレッテルを貼られた者、薬物中毒やアルコール中毒の者、さらには、政治的な陳情行為をした者や「一人っ子政策」に違反した者、20年以上にわたる入院生活を送る者など、さまざまな患者が暮らし、「入院」というより「収容」といった様相を呈している。社会から隔絶された鉄格子の中でも互いにいたわりあい、愛を求める患者たちの日常を寄り添うように撮影し、その実態を映し出していく。

中国・雲南省の隔離された精神病院に3カ月半密着。前後二編で構成されたドキュメンタリー。その病院には、暴力的な患者、非暴力的な患者、法的に精神異常というレッテルを貼られた者、薬物中毒やアルコール中毒の者、さらには、政治的な陳情行為をした者や「一人っ子政策」に違反した者、20年以上にわたる入院生活を送る者など、さまざまな患者が暮らし、「入院」というより「収容」といった様相を呈している。社会から隔絶された鉄格子の中でも互いにいたわりあい、愛を求める患者たちの日常を寄り添うように撮影し、その実態を映し出していく。

中国・雲南省の隔離された精神病院に3カ月半密着。前後二編で構成されたドキュメンタリー。その病院には、暴力的な患者、非暴力的な患者、法的に精神異常というレッテルを貼られた者、薬物中毒やアルコール中毒の者、さらには、政治的な陳情行為をした者や「一人っ子政策」に違反した者、20年以上にわたる入院生活を送る者など、さまざまな患者が暮らし、「入院」というより「収容」といった様相を呈している。社会から隔絶された鉄格子の中でも互いにいたわりあい、愛を求める患者たちの日常を寄り添うように撮影し、その実態を映し出していく。

中国・雲南省の隔離された精神病院に3カ月半密着。前後二編で構成されたドキュメンタリー。その病院には、暴力的な患者、非暴力的な患者、法的に精神異常というレッテルを貼られた者、薬物中毒やアルコール中毒の者、さらには、政治的な陳情行為をした者や「一人っ子政策」に違反した者、20年以上にわたる入院生活を送る者など、さまざまな患者が暮らし、「入院」というより「収容」といった様相を呈している。社会から隔絶された鉄格子の中でも互いにいたわりあい、愛を求める患者たちの日常を寄り添うように撮影し、その実態を映し出していく。

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Three sisters aged 10, 6 and 4 have to cope more or less on their own in a remote mountainous region of Yunnan. Terrible poverty in China, shown with gripping compassion by today's best documentary maker. Shorter version of Three Sisters, which premiered in Venice.

The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing is an intimate, observational portrait of a peasant family who eke out a humble existence in a small village set against the stunning mountain landscapes of China's Yunnan province.

The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing is an intimate, observational portrait of a peasant family who eke out a humble existence in a small village set against the stunning mountain landscapes of China's Yunnan province.

The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing is an intimate, observational portrait of a peasant family who eke out a humble existence in a small village set against the stunning mountain landscapes of China's Yunnan province.

The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing is an intimate, observational portrait of a peasant family who eke out a humble existence in a small village set against the stunning mountain landscapes of China's Yunnan province.

The film focuses on the suffering of Chinese who were imprisoned in a forced labor camp called Jiabiangou in the Gobi Desert in winter 1960 under Mao Zedong on the grounds that they were "rightist elements". The film tells of the harsh life of these men, who coped with physical exhaustion, extreme cold, starvation and death on a daily basis.

The film focuses on the suffering of Chinese who were imprisoned in a forced labor camp called Jiabiangou in the Gobi Desert in winter 1960 under Mao Zedong on the grounds that they were "rightist elements". The film tells of the harsh life of these men, who coped with physical exhaustion, extreme cold, starvation and death on a daily basis.

The film focuses on the suffering of Chinese who were imprisoned in a forced labor camp called Jiabiangou in the Gobi Desert in winter 1960 under Mao Zedong on the grounds that they were "rightist elements". The film tells of the harsh life of these men, who coped with physical exhaustion, extreme cold, starvation and death on a daily basis.

The character of this story lives far from the worlds of the material and the spirit. He has built his own subsistence conditions. He often goes to the neighboring villages, although he doesn’t communicate with other people. He collects some waste but doesn’t beg. He prowls about the ruins of deserted villages, as an animal or as a ghost. Under double political and economical pressure, most of people are depriving of their last dignity into a world where it exists a lack of material and spirit. But a human being stays a human being. He is looking for reasons to continue to live. —Wang Bing

The character of this story lives far from the worlds of the material and the spirit. He has built his own subsistence conditions. He often goes to the neighboring villages, although he doesn’t communicate with other people. He collects some waste but doesn’t beg. He prowls about the ruins of deserted villages, as an animal or as a ghost. Under double political and economical pressure, most of people are depriving of their last dignity into a world where it exists a lack of material and spirit. But a human being stays a human being. He is looking for reasons to continue to live. —Wang Bing

The character of this story lives far from the worlds of the material and the spirit. He has built his own subsistence conditions. He often goes to the neighboring villages, although he doesn’t communicate with other people. He collects some waste but doesn’t beg. He prowls about the ruins of deserted villages, as an animal or as a ghost. Under double political and economical pressure, most of people are depriving of their last dignity into a world where it exists a lack of material and spirit. But a human being stays a human being. He is looking for reasons to continue to live. —Wang Bing

It's 1949 and Tiananmen Square is a mess. Overgrown with weeds and thoroughly dilapidated it looks like hell, but it's where Chairman Mao wants to hold the Founding Ceremony for the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. And so TIAN AN MEN recounts the heroism, the struggle and the sacrifices of a People's Liberation Army unit as they...clean up and re-decorate the Tiananmen Gate? (Description by Subway Cinema)

The inhabitants of the village of Xi Yang Tang lead lives of extreme poverty and hardship. The children spend most of their time looking after their little brothers and sisters, and helping their parents with everyday chores

About the Chinese drivers who transport coal from the coal fields to the buyers.

About the Chinese drivers who transport coal from the coal fields to the buyers.

This correspondence between Spanish auteur Jaime Rosales and critical chronicler of contemporary China Wang Bing is divided into three short films each consisting of documentary observations.

Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, this film follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.

Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, this film follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.

An omnibus project examining, well, the state of the world.

Modern China. On a bright sunny day, in a building site, an industrial complex is being deconstructed. Night falls. The ruins of the factory are empty and silent. Phantoms appear, voices are heard, telling their stories…. From the anthology The State of the World.

The film consists almost entirely of an interview with the elderly He Fengming, recounting her experiences in post-1949 China.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

Four years ago, Kingsley arrived from Nigeria in Guangzhou, China and shared a small room with other Africans in the basement of a commercial building. He converted this modest space into a barber’s shop. Kingsley is keen to start an import and export company and to register it officially in Guangzhou. He works every day until 11 pm then goes to sleep in a chair at McDonald’s. He must also send money to his wife, so despite all his efforts, he is still unable to put aside enough money to register his business. In mid-November 2019, he goes back to Lagos to renew his visa. There, he and his wife rent a small stall in the Ikotun Market in the suburbs. But business is hard. Early in 2020, Kingsley is due to head back to China to continue his quest, but with all travel blocked by the Covid-19 epidemic, he remains stuck in Nigeria. Meanwhile, in Guangzhou, the director meets Evelyn, a Nigerian woman, trying to survive with her 6-year-old daughter and with another one on the way.