Youth (Hard Times), dir. Wang Bing, France/Luxembourg/Netherlands 2024, Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, 226 min.
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Wang Bing’s Youth unfolds as an epic observational trilogy, offering a profound, intimate portrait of young textile workers in Zhili, a factory town 150 km from Shanghai.
Filmed over five years, the documentary follows rural migrants in their early twenties who labor tirelessly under harsh conditions, sharing cramped dorms, forming fleeting bonds, and clinging to dreams of stability. Condensed from 2,600 hours of footage, this trilogy of films captures the rhythm of their lives in vivid, unsentimental detail. With quiet patience and formal rigor, Wang Bing reveals the human cost of China’s rapid economic transformation—through the eyes, toil, and resilience of its youth.
Narrowing in on the factory workers economic struggles and workplace conflicts, the second part of Wang Bing's Youth deepens his portrait of a generation struggling to survive, emphasising the increasingly combative relationship between workers and management.
Filmed over five years, the documentary follows rural migrants in their early twenties who labor tirelessly under harsh conditions, sharing cramped dorms, forming fleeting bonds, and clinging to dreams of stability. Condensed from 2,600 hours of footage, this trilogy of films captures the rhythm of their lives in vivid, unsentimental detail. With quiet patience and formal rigor, Wang Bing reveals the human cost of China’s rapid economic transformation—through the eyes, toil, and resilience of its youth.
Narrowing in on the factory workers economic struggles and workplace conflicts, the second part of Wang Bing's Youth deepens his portrait of a generation struggling to survive, emphasising the increasingly combative relationship between workers and management.
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06:00 pm
Sat, 16 Aug 2025
Cinema 1
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