Doors 7:00p
Program 7:30p

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

UnionDocs is delighted to come together with Nooks & Crannies 犄角旮旯 to present a special evening cinema and conversation with the incredible Wang Bing 王兵!

Over the course of the last fifteen years, Wang Bing (b. 1967) has established himself as one of the few truly vital, original, and urgent voices in contemporary documentary cinema, unparalleled in both his native China and elsewhere in the world.

“… The films of Wang Bing categorically refuse the folksy and saccharine ‘character-driven stories’ and bumper-sticker sloganism that stoke the engorged market for easily streamable and digestible nonfiction cinema in today’s so-called Golden Age of Documentary. ”  – Haden Guest,  Director of the Harvard Film Archive

Wang Bing‘s portrayal of the refugee experience serves as a poignant reminder of the global crises affecting millions today. As conflicts rage in various regions around the world, the struggles of the Ta’ang community reflect the broader human experience of displacement, highlighting the urgent need for empathy and understanding. This documentary not only sheds light on the specific hardships faced by the Ta’ang but also underscores the shared vulnerabilities and resilience of refugees everywhere, urging viewers to confront the realities of forced migration in our interconnected world.

We’re excited to welcome filmmaker Ziru Wang 王子儒 to guide us in conversation with Wang Bing following the screening. Don’t miss the opportunity to speak with Bing about his astonishing oeuvre, come through!

Program

Ta’ang by Wang Bing

147 mins, 2017, Burmese; Mandarin; English / English subtitles, Color, Copyright: 2016

In Ta’ang, director Wang Bing 王兵 brings his careful eye to the mountainous border-region of northeastern Myanmar, a powerful and revealing observational documentary that follows members of the Ta’ang community as they flee to China to escape an ongoing and escalating civil war. In a pair of refugee camps, those displaced by the war attempt to create reasonably safe living conditions, while others go deeper into China where they may find work in sugarcane fields or try their luck in urban areas. Meanwhile, those still in Myanmar must journey across the mountains, belongings and livestock in tow, as the sounds of gunfire and artillery echo around them. Ta’ang captures the constant insecurity, instability and disorientation that comes with life as a refugee, the complexities of the choices the Ta’ang face, and the emotional toll these choices take.

Program Duration: 147 mins

Bios

Wang Bing was born in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, in 1967. In 2002 he made West of the Tracks, a nine-hour documentary about the decline of a vast industrial zone in North-East China, screening a five-hour version at the Berlinale in 2003 and then in parts at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Since then, he has continued to work in the same mode, outside the system, always on highly challenging topics. In 2014, he held a major show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, to great public and critical acclaim. In 2017, he was awarded the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for Mrs. Fang, and in 2018, Dead Souls was selected for the out-of-competition segment of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2021, Le Bal in Paris mounted an exhibition entitled The Walking Eye, and the French Cinematheque presented a retrospective of his films. In 2023, Wang Bing’s Man in Black, a tribute to classical composer Wang Xilin, and Youth (Spring) premiered at Cannes, followed by a US Premiere at the 61st New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. That same year, Wang Bing received the Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award for Youth (Spring) from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2024, Wang Bing’s documentaries Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival, followed by a US premiere at the 62nd New York Film Festival, concluding the Youth trilogy.

Ziru Wang王子儒 is a female documentary director, a cinematographer and a theater worker and a non-fiction writer. She graduated from New York University in 2023, before which she gained her BA in Beijing Normal University studying films and theater. She is now working as an editor for independent filmmaker Alan Berliner. Ziru has been sensitive to current issues, but she always tends to present them in her uniquely gentle way through her accurate visuals. Her first documentary was selected by New York City Independent Film Festival, her short film Haunting Memory was premiered at Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, her non-fictions works are available on iFeng and Tencent.