Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Workshop

In the organizer's words:

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

workshop

February 7 + 8

For two years, Wang Bing documented the snowy and foggy landscapes of the Chinese Tiexi District with a borrowed DV camera. The result is the three-part documentary Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002), which in nine hours traces the decay of a state-owned factory and the consequences for the former or still present workers.

In a two-day workshop, we want to watch and discuss all three parts together in the cinema. On the one hand, we want to get to the bottom of Wang Bing's unique style and, on the other, discuss the film's political stance: In what way does the film show the devastation of industrial landscapes and the consequences for the working class? How are the workers' bodies depicted? What limits of representability become apparent, what form does the film find to do justice to them? What value do such forms of political documentary film have in relation to more common, reportage-like formats?

Over the course of two days, we want to hold an ongoing discussion on all the questions that arise and establish a culture of seeing, thinking and speaking together. The seminar provides a framework for this extraordinarily long work, a special approach to the discussion, in which seeing together in the cinema leads in the best case to speaking together.

All interested parties are invited, no prior knowledge is required.

Workshop times

Friday, February 7, 10:00 - 20:00

Saturday, February 8, 11:00 - 17:00

Location: Filmpalette, Lübecker Straße 15
50668 Cologne

Participation fee

29,- € incl. VAT

For coffee, snacks and refreshments

Speakers:

Alejandro Bachmann, film educator and professor for film history and film theory, KHM

Mirjam Baumert, Filmhaus Cologne

This is a cooperation event of the Filmhaus Köln with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung NRW e.V. and the dfi - Dokumentarfilminitiative im Filmbüro NW.