The Iron Ministry
Description
A thrillingly expansive portrait of contemporary China as observed in the cramped compartments of its trains, J.P. Sniadecki’s The Iron Ministry is simultaneously a vivid social document and an aesthetic tour de force. Shot over three years and dozens of rides, the documentary seamlessly unfolds as a single voyage spanning a wide range of social spaces from tightly packed sleepers to sparsely populated bullet cars. Sniadecki’s indefatigable camera instigating several conversations along the way that may surprise audiences for their political candor: a pair of Han Chinese interrupting a dialogue with two Hui Muslims, two women comparing wages, an employee relaying changes in the way the trains are run and four young men raising the specter of emigration. All of these interactions may be set against the backdrop of China’s so-called economic miracle, but Sniadecki’s marvelously exploratory camera invariably privileges direct observation to received wisdom. We never do learn where this train is going, only that it is moving fast and making a hell of a noise. —Max Goldberg
J.P. Sniadecki is a filmmaker and anthropologist whose work explores the social contours of direct observation. He has made several films in China, including Chaiqian/Demoliton (2008), which won the Joris Ivens Award at the Cinéma du Réel Film Festival, and People’s Park (2012), a single-take feature set in Chengdu. Foreign Parts (SFIFF 2011), his documentary of life in the Willets Point neighborhood of Queens (co-directed with Véréna Paravel), won the Golden Leopard and Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. Long affiliated with Harvard’s celebrated Sensory Ethnography Lab, Sniadecki is currently a professor of filmmaking at Cornell University.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/122138271?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Mandarin
Year 2014
Runtime 83
Country China/USA
Director J.P. Sniadecki
Producer J.P. Sniadecki, Joshua Neves
Editor J.P. Sniadecki
Cinematographer J.P. Sniadecki