Youth (Hard Times) (LUXFILMFEST)

Wang Bing, 227 min, 2024 - France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili's textile workshops, becoming ever more dramatic as the seasons go by. Fu Yun keeps making mistakes and is mocked by her colleagues. Xu Wanxiang can't find his notebook, without which his boss refuses to pay him his wages. From atop a passageway, a group of workers watch their indebted boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the boss has taken off with all the money. The workers find themselves alone, robbed of the fruits of their labour. Hu Siwen tells the story of the 2011 Zhili riots: police brutality, imprisonment, and fear. After bitter negotiations, the workers return home to celebrate the New Year.
After a first part screened at the Luxfilmfest in 2024, along wiht a masterclass by Wang Bing, the Chinese documentary director continues his trilogy entitled Youth, a plunge into the daily lives of young workers who toil in textile factories. Without ever turning a blind eye to the harsh conditions prevailing in these places forgotten by the rest of the world...