Originally intended as a character study in preparation for his feature film The Ditch (2010), Wang Bing’s Man with No Name (2009) is a portrait of a 40-year-old man living alone in a rudimentary burrow on the deserted outskirts of Beijing. Capturing his life through four seasons, the film accompanies the anonymous, taciturn main character as he forages, makes food, and collects resources for survival. In its stripped-down presentation, Wang Bing’s non-fiction work refuses glib commentary on the marginalised and isolated members of society. Without voiceover or explanation, the film maintains a complicit distance with its subject—a human being as he forges a self-sufficient life despite difficult conditions—to challenge both the filmmaker and the audience to simply be present.

Wang Bing (b. 1967, Shaanxi), one of the most significant figures in contemporary cinema, studied photography and film and worked in television before his career as an independent filmmaker. His first film, the epic nine-hour trilogy West of the Rails (1999–2003) which focused on an industrial site near Shenyang, established his approach of unwavering observation and close attention to his subjects, most of whom have been affected by specific histories and events in China. Wang has since directed numerous critically acclaimed films, including the award-winning Fengming, a Chinese Memoir (2007); Three Sisters (2012); and Mrs. Fang (2017). His video installations have been widely exhibited at museums and biennials such as the Centre Pompidou, Eye Filmmuseum, Tate Modern, and documenta 14.