Yumen

Yumen, situated in arid northwest China, is now a ghost town, once a prosperous city that grew because of oil exploration. Shot in 16mm, JP Sniadecki’s film, co-directed with Xu Ruotao and Huang Xiang, walks through the ruins of this city, a mixture of poetic documentary with fiction. The ghosts seem to inhabit the interiors of abandoned spaces in the aridity of the surrounding landscape. The walls that are still standing serve as canvas for artistic inspiration. The narrative collage of gestures, performance art and urban realism builds the originality of Yumen, making this film a unique work which leads us to reflect on the rampant growth of cities around industries which then decline and lead to population exodus. (C. C.)