West of the Tracks

Wang Bing’s striking three-part documentary West of the Tracks (French title: À l’Ouest des rails) observes the gradual decay of Tie Xi, a vast industrial zone in Shenyang that had flourished during China’s socialist period. Filmed from 1999 to 2001, as the country underwent far-reaching economic transformations at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the film follows closing factories, displaced communities and workers confronting unemployment and the collapse of a way of life. Its three parts—Rust, Remnants and Rails—form a monumental portrait of industrial decline and its human consequences.

Suggested by Romain Castellesi.