Wang Bing (director)

Chinese film director

In this Chinese name, the family name is  Wang.

Wang Bing

Born|  (1967-11-16) 16 November 1967 (age 56)

Xi'an, China

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

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]

## Recognition

[edit]

Tie 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

[edit]

In 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]

## Filmography

[edit]

Key  †  | Denotes films that have not yet been released

|

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[7] 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[8]
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  | Premiere at the 77th Locarno Film Festival
Youth (Homecoming) † | 青春：歸  | 152 minutes  | Premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Koehler, Robert (2007-05-20). "Fengming: A Chinese Memoir- Cannes Film Festival Review". Variety. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Didi-Huberman, Peuples exposés, peuples figurants. L'Oeil de l'histoire, 4, Minuit, 2012, pp. 235-257
4. ^ "Gaza : des cinéastes du monde entier demandent un cessez-le-feu immédiat". Libération (in French). 28 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ "Directors of cinema sign petition for immediate ceasefire". The Jerusalem Post. 31 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
7. ^ "La Biennale di Venezia - The Ditch".
8. ^ "La Biennale di Venezia - Orizzonti".

## 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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