A good friend of mine, before returning to US this year, dismissed much of the modern art scene in China but did compliment on the DV activities in Beijing a great deal. This is someone whose opinion on art I do respect, though I responded that what I've seen in MOMA (Museum of Morden Art) in San Francisco didn't impress me much either. :) Browsing DaShanZi (大山子)Art District this May, I found a couple of postings on documentary screening. Alas, I missed not some, but all of them.

I happen to skim through this Month's City Weekend's, and its cover story "The Raw and the Reel" (sub-titled "Chinese independent documentary films expose life on the margins."  While many of us are dazed and dizzed by the whirl of market -- be it stock market, your worth in the job market or food market, some others had the courage and conscience -- or even just curiosity for that matter --  to take the digital video-cam and close up on those live on the edges. Those on the edges, physical law told us, are the most exposed to dynamics and changes. However, they may be the most resilient.

"(Wang Bing(王冰)') monumental nine-hour documentary about the changing fortunes of working-class Chinese in ShenYang's once booming Tiexi (沈阳，铁西) District is a kind of "ordinary epic" of China in transition. A panoramic saga in three segments -- Rails, Rust, Remnants -- culled from over 300 hours of footage, West of Track (“铁西区”)addresses the fate of China's laid-off workers.

Particularly moving is the story of Old Du and his seventeen-year-old son Du Yang. Before the wave of lay-offs, Old Du worked security at the Tiexiqu railroad. Later he made a living scavenging on the grounds of his old worksite. Accused of stealing coal, he is arrested. Not knowing when his father will be released, Du Yang paces the doorway of their tiny quarters, the weight of his anxiety heavy in the air. After Old Du's release, in a scene so intimate and gripping that one forgets about the presence of the camera altogether, Du Yang gets drunk as they dine in a cheap dive. Crying and cursing, he falls to the floor, threatening to hit his father for leaving him alone. The tenuousness of their lives is laid bare, showing us the critical importance of family, now more than ever a crucial and necessary part of Chinese culture. Old Du's attitude is commendable as he takes the vicissitudes of his lie in stride, and faces an uncertain future with a subtle courage that is his most invaluable resource."

To have it on the cover story of leading English magzine in China but muted everywhere else is ironic indeed, but that's beside the point. Or, is this the point?

Another link to this documentary can be found here. There are some fan page in Chinese as well.