Director Wang Bing On Conveying “Sensitivity” Toward Chinese Garment Workers’ Conditions In His Cannes Documentary ‘Youth (Spring)’

deadline.com:

Wang Bing’s documentary, Youth (Spring), one of two in the main Cannes competition in nearly 20 years, takes an interesting stance in its portrayal of the garment workers living in harsh conditions in China’s clothing capital of Zhili City.

In fact the docu, as Deadline’s Matt Carey says, has a spice of life approach in showing the hustle and bustle of how these rural denizens find their way to the more economically vibrant areas along the Blue River delta and build lives together in harsh living conditions.

Yet, the docu’s intent isn’t to expose abuse. Said Wang Bing today at the Cannes presser about whether he was emotionally affected by the garment workers’ situation, “I’m someone who doesn’t get moved very easily.

I only know how to do that is to make films. So, the way I convey my sensitivity is through the cinema and how I express myself…The focus is the people who I’m filming.” The said, the plight of these garment workers isn’t lost on Wang Bing, particularly in China where the notion of destiny is prized. “Maybe in the western world, you talk about destiny or fate, we’re all animals and we’re bound to die one day, so basically people are referring to the natural process of life and death,” the filmmaker said, who shot the movie over a five year time frame of 2014-2019 “Of course, that is also part of what we mean when we talk about destiny in China,” said the filmmaker, “For me, in China, I think there’s an additional dimension: how individuals manage to get as much power as possible.” “I think that nobody wants to become someone else’s tool or instrument, is the reality of the situation,” said Wang Bing.