Dongbei: Not a Monolith

UnionDocs is delighted to be back with another edition of Nooks & Crannies犄角旮旯! Come through for a screening featuring The Echoes of Rust by Charles Xiuzhi Dong董秀智 and Free and Easy by Geng Jun耿军.

For long, Northeastern China (or Dongbei东北) was seen as the backbone of the country’s economy with its booming industries: coal mines, steelworks, and oil. Starting from the 90s, the region entered a steep decline with China’s many new economic reform methods. When mentioning “Dongbei” now, people might associate it with images of factories shuttered, folks migrating south. What remained were aging workers, abandoned infrastructures, and once lively cities, now in fragments.

While the Dongbei is often reduced to stereotypes of decay and emptiness, Free and Easy轻松+愉快 and The Echoes of Rust锈迹回响 offer far more textured, humane portrayals. Rather than romanticizing decay or flattening the region into a symbol of failure, these films dwell in the lives that persist within it, with humor, dignity, and quiet resilience. Geng Jun’s absurdist lens captures the absurdities of survival, while Charles Dong’s poetic documentary reveals complex layers of care, memory, and contradiction. Together, the films push beyond the monolith, illuminating a region shaped not only by decline but by the people who remain and endure.

A conversation will follow the program with director Geng Jun to further explore his long-time practices of making films locally in his hometown Hegang鹤岗, Heilongjiang, China. Don’t miss it!