Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003), Wang Bing's astonishing first film, is a moving and engrossing chronicle of the slow, sinking death of the factory towns in China’s Northeast Shenyang province as their aging foundries are quietly abandoned by the state and a way of life is extinguished. Armed with only a handheld DV camera, Wang invents remarkable yet understated camera movements and compositions to capture both the grueling factory work and the anxious waiting time that gradually takes over the workers’ lives. Running time: 554 minutes.

The film will be screened in three parts. Intermission: 12:30-1 pm. Breaks: 3-3:15pm, 5:45-6pm

Director Wang Bing, one of China’s foremost contemporary filmmakers, crafts his documentaries around the small stories of individuals who suffer the tragic consequences of wide-sweeping historical events. The Newhouse Center for the Humanities, in collaboration with Cinema and Media Studies, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the East Asian Studies program, is proud to host this event as part of a screening series:

• Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - November 7 at 10am in Collins Cinema
• Three Sisters - November 15 at 7pm in Collins Cinema