Trapped in the City of a Thousand Mountains (The Netherlands/China, 2018)
Filmed in the slipstream of China’s recent hip-hop explosion, David Verbeek’s short documentary Trapped in the City of a Thousand Mountains surveys the aspiring rappers...
Call for Papers – Special Issue of Feminist Media Studies on Queer Pop in Post-2000 China
Since the 2000s, China’s media industrialization and cultural globalization have encouraged a burgeoning “queer pop”——that is, a soaring proliferation of non-normatively gendered and/or sexualized narratives...
Guangzhou Dream Factory (USA, 2017)
When documentarian and social commentator Christiane Badgley went to try to replace a locally-made kitchen knife she has bought in Ghana, she found something surprising....
An Elephant Sitting Still (China, 2018) and the movement of emotion-as-space [New Directors/New Films 2018]
In the late Hu Bo’s first and last film, scenes revolve around the inhabitants of an apartment complex located somewhere in northern China, all of...
Behemoth (China, 2015)
With intermittent voiceover narration loosely based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Zhao Liang’s otherwise wordless, observational documentary Behemoth straddles the poetic, the purgatorial, and the...
The Hedonists (China, 2016)
Despite its title, viewers may still be surprised at how light-hearted Jia Zhangke’s recent short The Hedonists actually is, especially when compared to the director’s...
Little Proletarian (China, 2012)
Shen Jie’s powerful documentary Little Proletarian begins with 14-year-old Hai’er being subjected to a vicious beating from his remorseless father, while his mother watches silently...
Chinese Film Industry Talks: In Conversation with Producer Isabelle Glachant
In the fast growing Chinese film market, very talented local filmmakers have experienced difficulties in reaching their national audience, although their works have received awards...
Red Sorghum (China, 1987)
Zhang Yimou’s debut feature is a haunting and visually hypnotic tale of lust, love, and how the ravages of war affect rural community. In terms...
Women Who Flirt (China, 2014)
Hong Kong maverick Pang Ho-cheung’s relationship with mainland China edges closer to a long-term commitment with Women Who Flirt, a slight romantic-comedy which largely squanders...