Country: China, Netherlands
Year: 2002
Duration: 545'


This epic documentary is a majestic journey through an industrial empire in decay. Divided into three parts, (Rust, Remnants and Rails), the film is a detailed portrait of the industrial region of Tie Xi in the North-East of China. It was once the heart of statism, an important industrial area with enormous foundries and steelworks, but now the region is a scene of desolate and oppressing decay. Economic reforms, bankruptcies, demolitions and company transfers have left the old factories empty and the workers unemployed. In Rust, the director spends an entire year with a community as it fights the growing deterioration of its village; in Remnants, he shows a group of children who still manage to find joy in small daily happenings, despite the fact that they have no prospects for the future. Rails follows the old railway across the empty factories, visiting entire communities that are unemployed.

Biography

film director

Wang Bing

Wang Bing (Xi’an, China, 1967) studied photography at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in 1992 and filmmaking at the Beijing Film Academy in 1995. In 1999, he began his career as an independent filmmaker, a career marked by the number and strong political stance of his films. His documentaries have been presented at the world’s top festivals, including Cinéma du réel, DocLisboa, FIDMarseille, Rotterdam, Cannes and Venice. In 2007, at Cannes, he presented Fengming, a Chinese Memoir out of competition, and in 2010 he participated in competition in Venice with The Ditch, his first fiction film. He won the Venice Horizons section in 2013 with ’Til Madness Do Us Part and in 2016, with Bitter Money, he won Best Screenplay in Horizons section again. 

FILMOGRAFIA

Tie xi qu (West of the Tracks, doc., 1999-2003), Baoli gongchang (Brutality Factory, cm, doc., 2007), He fengming (Fengming, a Chinese Memoir, doc., 2007), Yuan You (Crude Oil, doc., 2008), Tong dao (Coal Money, mm, doc., 2008), Jia bian gou (The Ditch, 2010), San zimei (Three Sisters, doc., 2012), Gudu (Alone, 2012), Feng ai (’Til Madness Do Us Part, doc., 2013), Fu yu zi (Father and Son, mm, doc., 2014), Yizhi (Traces, cm, doc., 2014), Deang (Ta’ang, doc., 2016), Ku Kian (Bitter Money, doc., 2016).

Cast

& Credits

Regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura, fotografia/Director, story, screenplay, director of photography: Wang Bing
Montaggio/Film editor: Wang Bing, Adam Kerdy
Suono/Sound: Chen Chen, Han Bing
Produzione, vendita all'estero/Production, Foreign Sales Agent: Wang Bing, c/o Huixin
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