IDFA Guest of Honor Wang Bing Discusses Chinese Censorship, Upcoming Trilogy and Politics: ‘I Don’t Want My Films to Become a Political Tool’
variety.comRafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Selected as this year’s Guest of Honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Chinese director Wang Bing sat down with the festival’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia for an in-depth talk on his career on Friday at the imposing Tuschinski Theatre in the Dutch capital.
Bing commented on not wanting his films to be “political” while reflecting on the entirety of his career, from his nine-hour-long debut “West of the Tracks” to the recent Cannes competition title “Youth (Spring)” — “I’m not particularly interested in politics (…) I don’t want my films to become a political tool.
The movies I watched in my childhood were full of politics, ideology and an agenda. I don’t want people to find these elements in the movies I make.” When prodded by Nyrabia on the subject, the director stated: “I live in a politically sensitive society.
All the people involved in my movies live in the same society, so we cannot simply unhook ourselves from the context. I will film things that contain political topics but I will never make my movies a tool for politics.” The director wrapped the topic by saying, “These are people’s authentic lives.
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