BEHEMOTH looks at the human and environmental costs of coal mining and consumption in China.
A literary reflection on the industrial monster devouring the Mongolian prairies.
The screening will take place on Tuesday 26 April at 20:15 at ICA London and will be followed by a Q&A with the director.
In the Old Testament, the mountains are the domain of a monster named Behemoth; in modern times the vast mining industry has taken this monster’s place. With a violent roar, the mountain spews iron ore and coal with an infernal billowing smoke that leaves the resident workers struggling against fatigue and suffocation. Sheep farmers and their herds have been driven from bright green pastures to make way for the ever-expanding mining industry; sick miners with ruined lungs lay dying in the local hospitals. A mountain paradise is mutated into an industrial zone surrounded by ghost towns of brand-new, deserted apartment blocks.
China, 2015. Dir. Zhao Liang. 95mins
MASTERCLASS WITH XIAOLU GUO
26 April 2016, 18:30
ICA London
To accompany the screening, Xiaolu Guo, director of HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (2006) and SHE, A CHINESE (2009), will give a masterclass on the state of documentary filmmaking in China. Responding to Zhao Liang’s film, and through clips of her own films, Guo will discuss elements such as narrative, language, landscape, history, environment and institutional frameworks.
The screening and masterclass are part of a new documentary festival Frames of Representation (FoR) which showcases new forms of documentary cinema and invites discussion around the issues represented on screen.
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH
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