The documentary film Plastic China (82 min., 2016) follows the members of two families who spend their lives sorting and recycling plastic waste from the United States, Europe, and Asia. Yi-Jie, an 11-year-old girl, works alongside her parents in a recycling facility while dreaming of attending school. Kun, the facility’s ambitious boss, dreams of a better life. Through the story of these two families, this poignant film explores issues of waste recycling, social inequality, as well as global consumption and culture.
Born in 1976, the filmmaker and photographer Wang Jiuliang graduated from the Communication University of China, and works as a freelance filmmaker based in Beijing. His first film Beijing Besieged by Waste (2011) investigates waste disposal in and around Beijing.