Wang Bing

Wang Bing (王兵; born 1967 in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China) is a Chinese director, often referred to as one of the foremost figures in documentary film-making.

Wang Bing Filmography

 

Poster for the movie "Man with No Name"

Man with No Name

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 … Read more

Poster for the movie "Crude Oil"

Crude Oil

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.

Poster for the movie "Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks"

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

Filmed between 1999 and 2001, WEST OF THE TRACKS details 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. With a total runtime of more than nine hours, the film comprises three parts: “Rust”, “Remnants”, … Read more

Poster for the movie "Fengming: A Chinese Memoir"

Fengming: A Chinese Memoir

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

Poster for the movie "Mrs. Fang"

Mrs. Fang

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.

Poster for the movie "Beauty Lives in Freedom, Gao Ertai"

Beauty Lives in Freedom, Gao Ertai

Gao Ertai (1931) is an artist, teacher, philosopher who, in the 1950s, was imprisoned in the Jianbiangou 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.

Poster for the movie "Three Sisters"

Three Sisters

The masterful new documentary from Wang Bing (West of the Tracks) 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. (TIFF)

Poster for the movie ""

‘Til Madness Do Us Part

Director Wang Bing casts an understanding and non-judgmental eye on the inmates of a decrepit Chinese mental hospital in this eloquent and emotionally impactful documentary.

Poster for the movie ""

Ta’ang

A civil war has been smouldering for decades in Myanmar’s Kokang region, which is home to the Ta’ang people (also known as the Palaung). When their lives are once again in danger in spring 2015, it’s mostly the women and children who flee over the border to China. Wang Bing accompanies a few of these communities thrown together by fate, at once modern and almost mythical and archaic. They wander the remote mountains with few … Read more

alone-wang-bing

Alone

The daily life of three little sisters, YING, ZHEN and FEN, who live alone in a small village family house in the Yunnan province in China. The father works in the valley a few hundred kilometers down the mountain and the mother has left long ago. The little girls don’t go to school, spending their days working in the fields or wondering in the village. Quite and patient, YING takes care of her two sisters … Read more

Poster for the movie "Dead Souls"

Dead Souls

In Gansu Province, northwest China, lie the remains of countless prisoners abandoned in the Gobi Desert sixty years ago. Designated as “ultra-rightists” in the Communist Party’s Anti-Rightist campaign of 1957, they starved to death in the Jiabiangou and Mingshui reeducation camps. The film invites us to meet the survivors of the camps to find out firsthand who these persons were, the hardships they were forced to endure and what became their destiny.

Poster for the movie "Bitter Money"

Bitter Money

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. Presented at Venezia 73, Orizzonti. In a fast growing city of East China, … Read more