The good news is that Cannes might be the lieu for Wang Bing’s first foray into fiction film, the bad news is, at least temporarily, we know next to nothing on his next film project except that: it was first mentioned in 2007’s Pusan Promotion Plan during the 2007 Pusan International Film Festival and will probably be produced by Lihong Kang. If Bing continues with the same themes of interest, Hometown should relate back to the subject matter the Chinese filmmaker explored in his previous documentary films such as China’s own industrial revolution and new economy or the Cultural Revolution.
Having zero to go on, this may very well be one of the same with an in-development project I’ve completely lost track of in Black Iron Days, which was part of the 2006’s L’Atelier du Festival. If it is indeed related to this film and if it is selected for Cannes this year, then I could see how the Chinese film and filmmaker might receive some kind of reprimand from State censors, as it would paint a potentially unflattering look into the country’s history. Here is one very small portion of Tie Xi Qu, the 9 hour, almost five year in production documentary film that launched the filmmaker’s career.
