New Chinese-Language Documentaries

Ethics, Subject and Place

By Kuei-fen Chiu, Yingjin Zhang

© 2015 – Routledge

 

Description

Documentary filmmaking is one of the most vibrant areas of media activity in the Chinese world, with many independent filmmakers producing documentaries that deal with a range of sensitive socio-political problems, bringing to their work a strongly ethical approach. This book identifies notable similarities and crucial differences between new Chinese-language documentaries in mainland China and Taiwan. It outlines how documentary filmmaking has developed, contrasts independent documentaries with dominant official state productions, considers how independent documentary filmmakers go about their work, including the work of exhibiting their films and connecting with audiences, and discusses the content of their documentaries, showing how the filmmakers portray a wide range of subject matter regarding places and people, and how they deal with particular issues including the underprivileged, migrants and women in an ethical way. Throughout the book demonstrates how successful Chinese-language independent documentary filmmaking is, with many appearances at international film festivals and a growing number of award-winning titles.

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: New Chinese-Language Documentaries

Part 1: History and Politics

2. The History ofDocumentary Filmmaking in Mainland China

3. The Vision and Voice of New Taiwan Documentary

 

Part 2: Theory and Ethics

4. Independent Documentary and Social Theories of Space and Locality

5. Subject to Movement: Wu Wenguang and the Ethics of Self

 

Part 3: Subject and Gender

6. New Subjectivities in Women’s Documentary Films

7. The Other as Interlocutor: ‘Voices of the People’ in Taiwan’s Documentaries

 

Part 4: Place and Migration

8. Empowering Place: Jia Zhangke’s Post-Nostalgic Assemblage of Shanghai

9. Migration Documentaries and the Vision of Cosmopolitanism Part 5: Exhibition and Circulation

10. YIDFF and Taiwan Documentary in the International Arena

11. The Circulation of Mainland Chinese Independent Documentary

 

Reference：

https://www.routledge.com/New-Chinese-Language-Documentaries-Ethics-Subject-and-Place/Chiu-Zhang/p/book/9781138577909