The new Chinese documentary film movement
Subtitle: for the public record
By: edited by Chris Berry, Lu Xinyu, and Lisa Rofel
Contributors: Lü, Xinyu, 1965-
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Hong Kong
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9789888028511; 9789888028528
Subjects: Documentary films; History and criticism
Description: The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement is a groundbreaking project unveiling recent documentary film work that has transformed visual culture in China, and brought new immediacy along with a broader base of participation to Chinese media. As a foundational text, this volume provides a much-needed introduction to the topic of Chinese documentary film, the signature mode of contemporary Chinese visual culture. These essays examine how documentary filmmakers have opened up a unique new space of social commentary and critique in an era of rapid social changes amid globalization and marketization.

The essays cover topics ranging from cruelty in documentary to the representation of Beijing; gay, lesbian and queer documentary; sound in documentary; the exhibition context in China; authorial intervention and subjectivity; and the distinctive "on the spot" aesthetics of contemporary Chinese documentary. This volume will be critical reading for scholars in disciplines ranging from film and media studies to Chinese studies and Asian studies. --Book Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-284)and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Historical overview. Introduction / Chris Berry and Lisa Rofel ; Rethinking China's new documentary movement : engagement with the social / Lu Xinyu, translated by Tan Jia and Lisa Rofel, edited by Lisa Rofel and Chris Berry ; DV : individual filmmaking / Wu Wenguang, translated by Cathryn Clayton; title: Part II. Documenting marginalization, or identities new and old. West of the tracks : history and class-consciousness / Lu Xinyu, translated by J.X. Zhang ; Coming out of The box, marching as dykes / Chao Shi-Yan; title: Part III. Publics, counter-publics, and alternative publics. Blowup Beijing : the city as a twilight zone / Paola Voci ; Watching documentary : critical public discourses and contemporary urban Chinese film clubs / Seio Nakajima ; Alternative archive : China's independent documentary culture / Chris Berry and Lisa Rofel; title: Part IV. Between filmmaker and subject : re-creating realism. Translating the unspeakable : on-screen and off-screen voices in Wu Wenguang's documentary work / Bérénice Reynaud ; From "public" to "private" : Chinese documentary and the logic of xianchang / Luke Robinson ; Excuse me, your camera is in my face : auteurial intervention in PRC new documentary / Yomi Braester ; "I am one of them" and "they are my actors" : performing, witnessing, and DV image-making in plebian China / Yiman Wang.