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Selected as this year’s Guest of Honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Chinese director Wang Bing sat down with the festival’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia for an in-depth talk on his career on Friday at the imposing Tuschinski Theatre in the Dutch capital.

Bing commented on not wanting his films to be “political” while reflecting on the entirety of his career, from his nine-hour-long debut “West of the Tracks” to the recent Cannes competition title “Youth (Spring)” — “I’m not particularly interested in politics (…) I don’t want my films to become a political tool. The movies I watched in my childhood were full of politics, ideology and an agenda. I don’t want people to find these elements in the movies I make.”

When prodded by Nyrabia on the subject, the director stated: “I live in a politically sensitive society. All the people involved...

Programme includes ‘top 10’ films selected by director Wang Bing and selection of Peter Greenaway films.

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has revealed the first 50 titles for this year’s edition, running Nov 8 to Nov 19.

As part of a previously announced Wang Bing retrospective, the director has been invited to programme his “top 10”. The films he has selected are all Chinese and all date from 1999 or later.

They are: Before the Flood (2005) directed by Yifan Li, Yu YanBing’ai (2007) by Yan Feng; Born in Beijing (2011) by Li Ma; Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan; The Next Life (2011) by Jian Fan...

Documentary festival IDFA, which runs Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam, has revealed its first 50 titles, including the top 10 Chinese films selected by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, IDFA’s Guest of Honor.

The festival has also revealed the films playing in two of the three Focus programs: Fabrications, which probes the difference between reality and realism, and 16 Worlds on 16, an homage to 16mm film.

Wang’s selection will take the viewer “on a contemplative journey into contemporary Chinese cinema,” according to the festival. “The films and their politics are subtle in their film language, representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.”

The selection (see below), which covers films produced since 1999, includes Lixin Fan’s 2009 film “Last Train Home,” which was supported by IDFA’s Bertha Fund. The film documents the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.

Fabrications explores the relationship of trust between documentary film and audiences,...

Acclaimed director Wang Bing, this year’s guest of honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, will be using his IDFA platform to highlight nonfiction cinema of his native China.

The festival, which runs from Nov. 8-19, announced the 10 films Bing has selected to be screened at IDFA – one of the perquisites of being named guest of honor. Among the documentaries he’s choosing to highlight are Old Men (1999), directed by Lina Yang; Wheat Harvest (2008), directed by Tong Xu, and IDFA Bertha Fund-supported Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan, “documenting the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.” (Scroll to see Bing’s full top 10 list).

Director Wang Bing attends the Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2023.

The documentaries chosen by Bing “and their politics are subtle in their film language,” IDFA noted in a release, “representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.

Since the Jackie Chan/John Cena buddy film has already been released overseas, many are hoping that Hidden Strike news will surface regarding a potential US release date. Originally titled Snafu, many thought the Chan and Cena-led film would never release since production wrapped in 2018, and then news promptly went silent. However, after various setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hidden Strike finally premiered overseas on July 6th and 7th, 2023. A 2023 release window was teased for quite a while, and audiences finally have a definitive answer for when Hidden Strike will hit the US.

Hidden Strike news reports that the movie will see special forces veterans Luo Feng (Chan) and Chris Van Horne (Cena) escort a group of civilians across Baghdad's "Highway of Death" to make it to the safety of the Green Zone. Meanwhile, the villainous Owen Paddock attempts to pull off the biggest oil heist in history. Before it was titled Snafu,...

Jackie Chan and John Cena team up for a Mad Max-like action-comedy in the trailer for Hidden Strike. A legend in Hong Kong thanks to his death-defying work in classic martial arts films throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, Chan first became a true Hollywood action star when he appeared alongside Chris Tucker in the hit 1998 movie Rush Hour. Now 69-years-old, Chan continues putting in work as an international superstar, with Rush Hour 4 still being planned.

While fans wait for Rush Hour 4 to happen, Chan has lined up an action-packed pairing with Peacemaker star Cena in Hidden Strike, which just unleashed a trailer (via Rapid Trailers).

It’s no surprise that the action looks wild in Hidden Strike, and it’s also no surprise to see Chan and Cena showing off a lot of comedic chemistry as they take on bad guys in some Mad Max-style chase scenes.