Director / Editor / Producer

Wang Bing

王兵

Xi’an / Paris, China / France

One of the leading figures in world documentary and named among the 21st century’s top 100 directors. Shoots his own films, working either alone or with one of a very small number of cinematographers, so the camera can stay almost unnoticed and enter the small spaces his subjects live in. His approach is observational in the strict sense, a silent, discreet witness recording with minimal intervention or judgement, letting events unfold organically. Tie Xi Qu: West of the tracks (2003) runs Nine Hours; also Three Sisters (2012), ’Til Madness Do Us Part (2013) and Youth (2023). He has explicitly rejected larger budgets, saying a big investment would tie him to the money and to other conditions, and that a huge crew would mean spending his time managing people rather than shooting. Works between China, France, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.