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 Chineselabour camps, The Ditch, was included in the 2010 Venice Film Festival as the film sorpresa.[2]
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
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]
Censorship in China
Shortly 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]
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
