Man in Black
Wang Bing / France, United States & United Kingdom / 2023 / 61 min
One of China's greatest composers recounts his dramatic life story on an empty theatre stage in an unusually expressive film by Wang Bing.
Wang Bing is recognised as one of the most important documentary filmmakers of the last twenty years. He is also known for his extreme thoroughness and very long films, such as ‘Youth (Spring)’, which is just over three hours long and can (and should) also be seen at this year’s CPH:DOX. ‘Man in Black’ is in every way an exception to Wang’s other work. It is only one hour long, shot in one take in an empty theatre in Paris with a single person in front of the camera: Xilin Wang, one of China’s most prominent modern composers and a dissident who for decades lived under the unforgiving scrutiny of the authorities. The theatre sets a suitably expressive tone for his dramatic life story, which he portrays in the nude, accompanied by excerpts from his music. The film is shown together with Pedro Costa’s short film ‘Daughters of Fire’.