Youth (Spring)

Wang Bing's 2023 documentary was shot in the town of Zhili in Zhejiang province, China. More than eighteen thousand small workshops there produce children's clothing and employ close to three hundred thousand migrant workers; the filming took place between 2014 and 2019. The documentary tells no single story. The camera moves from workshop to workshop; the workers sew, joke with each other, bargain over rates and sleep in the same rooms. Most are in their twenties and work and private life occupy the same space. Wang Bing does not comment and does not shorten the duration; the film runs past three and a half hours. That length is part of the subject, and the repetition is itself the argument. Who it's for: those who like observational documentary and narratives about labour. Who it's not for: viewers expecting standard length and structure; the film refuses both.