Youth (Hard Times)

Wang Bing, who has one of the most influential and radical visions of modern documentary with masterpieces such as Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002), premiered in the Official Section of the Locarno Film Festival an approach to the mass textile factories of Zhili city in the east of China. The images collected between 2015 and 2019 constitute a committed portrait of the consequences that China's economic expansion is having on the workers. Based on the personal experiences of several individuals, it gradually draws a communal narrative of growing tension between an increasingly pressured working class and a business elite focused on profitability and expansion. The violence that emanates on a daily basis catalyses the 2011 riots that took place in the city, which Wang Bing and his characters constantly refer to as catalysts for collective action.