Independent Cinema in China: State, Market and Film Culture
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Modern Languages
Abstract
Censored, marginalized and largely inaccessible, independent cinema in the People's Republic of China is widely recognised as an important achievement of recent Chinese cinema. It functions as a dynamic force to challenge the concepts of art, truth, reality and ethics constructed in official discourses and to explore alternative spaces, places, voices, and images that have been ignored or distorted in mainstream media. However, following a nationwide shut-down of independent film festivals and organizations in the PRC since 2012, there is a real danger that these works and the material culture surrounding them may disappear. This project aims to preserve independent films made in the PRC in the past three decades and to conduct comprehensive research into this unique but under-researched film culture.
This four-year international project is led by film scholars from UK and China (Sabrina Qiong Yu, Newcastle University; Chris Berry, King's College London; Luke Robinson, Sussex University; Xianmin Zhang, Beijing Film Academy), all active researchers and steadfast advocates of Chinese independent cinema who have excellent personal and professional connections with Chinese independent film circles, and supported by a Research Assistant. We will work closely with a large number of independent filmmakers and curators as well as a range of industry partners, supported by a multi-national Advisory Board comprised of 10 prominent filmmakers, curators and academics of Chinese independent cinema around the world.
We want to understand how Chinese independent cinema has been produced, circulated and received, as well as how its relationship to the state and the market has shaped this cinema. To that end, we will conduct a questionnaire-based survey of 200 independent filmmakers and semi-structured interviews with 25 selected representative directors. We will also survey audiences for independent films and interview other stakeholders such as the curators of film festivals and the CEOs of film companies/funds which are committed to the production and distribution of independent films. We will communicate the findings to academic audiences via a monograph, an academic conference and a subsequent anthology, academic journal articles and conference panels/papers.
We will launch the first Chinese independent film archive in Europe in which a rare collection of Chinese independent films and a disappearing film production and exhibition culture are preserved. It will not only safeguard cultural heritage for future generations, but also keep an 'alternative', faithful record of social changes and historical trauma in socialist and post-socialist China that is unobtainable elsewhere. We will advocate the use of independent films, documentaries in particular, as first-hand sources for research on and teaching of modern China within higher education. The first Chinese independent film online database, a YouTube channel and other digital platforms will be set up to enhance awareness of Chinese independent films and stimulate interest in the archive.
The project will also benefit non-academic communities such as filmmakers, film industries and the general public. To enable this, we will collaborate with leading industry partners Sheffield Doc/Fest and CNEX in China to hold a Sheffield Doc/Fest-CNEX Documentary Summit in Beijing and panel discussions on UK-China co-production at Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK. We will curate a UK film tour together with local art-house cinemas in four different UK cities as well as China Visual Festival (London), Chinese Film Forum (Manchester), and the Institute for Screen Industries Research at Nottingham University. To mark the launch of the film archive, there will be a film week at Newcastle's Tyneside Cinema, a symposium at Newcastle University, and a multi-media exhibition on the history of Chinese independent cinema over three decades at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.
This four-year international project is led by film scholars from UK and China (Sabrina Qiong Yu, Newcastle University; Chris Berry, King's College London; Luke Robinson, Sussex University; Xianmin Zhang, Beijing Film Academy), all active researchers and steadfast advocates of Chinese independent cinema who have excellent personal and professional connections with Chinese independent film circles, and supported by a Research Assistant. We will work closely with a large number of independent filmmakers and curators as well as a range of industry partners, supported by a multi-national Advisory Board comprised of 10 prominent filmmakers, curators and academics of Chinese independent cinema around the world.
We want to understand how Chinese independent cinema has been produced, circulated and received, as well as how its relationship to the state and the market has shaped this cinema. To that end, we will conduct a questionnaire-based survey of 200 independent filmmakers and semi-structured interviews with 25 selected representative directors. We will also survey audiences for independent films and interview other stakeholders such as the curators of film festivals and the CEOs of film companies/funds which are committed to the production and distribution of independent films. We will communicate the findings to academic audiences via a monograph, an academic conference and a subsequent anthology, academic journal articles and conference panels/papers.
We will launch the first Chinese independent film archive in Europe in which a rare collection of Chinese independent films and a disappearing film production and exhibition culture are preserved. It will not only safeguard cultural heritage for future generations, but also keep an 'alternative', faithful record of social changes and historical trauma in socialist and post-socialist China that is unobtainable elsewhere. We will advocate the use of independent films, documentaries in particular, as first-hand sources for research on and teaching of modern China within higher education. The first Chinese independent film online database, a YouTube channel and other digital platforms will be set up to enhance awareness of Chinese independent films and stimulate interest in the archive.
The project will also benefit non-academic communities such as filmmakers, film industries and the general public. To enable this, we will collaborate with leading industry partners Sheffield Doc/Fest and CNEX in China to hold a Sheffield Doc/Fest-CNEX Documentary Summit in Beijing and panel discussions on UK-China co-production at Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK. We will curate a UK film tour together with local art-house cinemas in four different UK cities as well as China Visual Festival (London), Chinese Film Forum (Manchester), and the Institute for Screen Industries Research at Nottingham University. To mark the launch of the film archive, there will be a film week at Newcastle's Tyneside Cinema, a symposium at Newcastle University, and a multi-media exhibition on the history of Chinese independent cinema over three decades at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.
Planned Impact
This project has excellent potential to achieve considerable social and cultural impact beyond academic communities. The team has identified at least six potential groups of societal beneficiaries.
1) Chinese independent filmmakers: One of the primary goals of this project is to help Chinese independent filmmakers who are currently struggling with the pressure from both the state and the market, and suffering from a lack of exhibition channels and visibility. The first archive of Chinese independent cinema in Europe will preserve many otherwise uncollected works and the testimonies of independent filmmakers. An online database with detailed information on films and filmmakers, a YouTube channel that provides free viewing of some films, and keynote talks & panel discussions at Sheffield Doc/Fest will not only greatly increase the visibility of Chinese independent filmmakers and help their work to reach a wider audience, but also potentially attract foreign investment and create future working opportunities for them.
2) Film industries in China and the UK: the project will reveal the challenges and opportunities facing Chinese independent cinema, and offer useful examples and advice to the emerging grassroots film companies in China who are interested in producing films with artistic quality and social significance but struggle to survive in a film market dominated by commercial blockbusters. It will also enhance the understanding of Chinese independent film culture in the UK, and help the UK film industry to identify new Chinese film talents for potential co-production. The project will set up various platforms for cross-cultural communication and international networking, and inspire new forms of artistic and social expression.
3) International film festival curators and programmers: the project and its continuous existence as an online database and a physical archive afterwards will benefit programmers and curators of international film festivals who have found sourcing non-state-sanctioned films from China much harder since the nation-wide crack-down on the indie sector in the past few years. Instead of traveling to different parts of China, they can come to the Newcastle archive to identify the latest talents and works.
4) NGOs and charities: Chinese independent cinema offers the portrayal of marginalised or repressed social groups (e.g. sexual minorities, coal miners, petitioners, the disabled and migrant workers), and the discussion of neglected social issues such as environmental problems and social injustice. Research into this cinema can enhance the understanding of contemporary Chinese society from NGOs within and outside China, charities and private sector organisations so that they can respond to the needs of all sorts of disadvantaged or victimized communities.
5) Overseas Chinese citizens including students and scholars: due to their quasi-underground status and inaccessibility, Chinese independent films are hardly seen in China. With a huge number of Chinese students and visiting scholars coming to the UK every year, this project can provide overseas Chinese with an uncensored image of China, raise their awareness of current social problems, and potentially facilitate the social reform in politically stagnant China.
6) The wider general public: with China's rapid growth into the world's second largest economy and growing political power on the international stage, an increasing global interest in China has often been accompanied by a lack of information transparency, misunderstandings and unbalanced perceptions. This project offers a perfect window to look into China's recent history and reality, and has the potential to shift the public's attitudes, awareness and understanding regarding a range of important issues faced by China such as human rights, environmental crises, public wellbeing and so on.
1) Chinese independent filmmakers: One of the primary goals of this project is to help Chinese independent filmmakers who are currently struggling with the pressure from both the state and the market, and suffering from a lack of exhibition channels and visibility. The first archive of Chinese independent cinema in Europe will preserve many otherwise uncollected works and the testimonies of independent filmmakers. An online database with detailed information on films and filmmakers, a YouTube channel that provides free viewing of some films, and keynote talks & panel discussions at Sheffield Doc/Fest will not only greatly increase the visibility of Chinese independent filmmakers and help their work to reach a wider audience, but also potentially attract foreign investment and create future working opportunities for them.
2) Film industries in China and the UK: the project will reveal the challenges and opportunities facing Chinese independent cinema, and offer useful examples and advice to the emerging grassroots film companies in China who are interested in producing films with artistic quality and social significance but struggle to survive in a film market dominated by commercial blockbusters. It will also enhance the understanding of Chinese independent film culture in the UK, and help the UK film industry to identify new Chinese film talents for potential co-production. The project will set up various platforms for cross-cultural communication and international networking, and inspire new forms of artistic and social expression.
3) International film festival curators and programmers: the project and its continuous existence as an online database and a physical archive afterwards will benefit programmers and curators of international film festivals who have found sourcing non-state-sanctioned films from China much harder since the nation-wide crack-down on the indie sector in the past few years. Instead of traveling to different parts of China, they can come to the Newcastle archive to identify the latest talents and works.
4) NGOs and charities: Chinese independent cinema offers the portrayal of marginalised or repressed social groups (e.g. sexual minorities, coal miners, petitioners, the disabled and migrant workers), and the discussion of neglected social issues such as environmental problems and social injustice. Research into this cinema can enhance the understanding of contemporary Chinese society from NGOs within and outside China, charities and private sector organisations so that they can respond to the needs of all sorts of disadvantaged or victimized communities.
5) Overseas Chinese citizens including students and scholars: due to their quasi-underground status and inaccessibility, Chinese independent films are hardly seen in China. With a huge number of Chinese students and visiting scholars coming to the UK every year, this project can provide overseas Chinese with an uncensored image of China, raise their awareness of current social problems, and potentially facilitate the social reform in politically stagnant China.
6) The wider general public: with China's rapid growth into the world's second largest economy and growing political power on the international stage, an increasing global interest in China has often been accompanied by a lack of information transparency, misunderstandings and unbalanced perceptions. This project offers a perfect window to look into China's recent history and reality, and has the potential to shift the public's attitudes, awareness and understanding regarding a range of important issues faced by China such as human rights, environmental crises, public wellbeing and so on.
Publications
Robinson L
(2023)
Worrying about China: storytelling, humanitarian intervention and the global circulation of independent Chinese documentary
in Studies in Documentary Film
Berry, C.
(2021)
What is Transnational Chinese Cinema Today? Or, Welcome to the Sinosphere
in Transnational Screens
Robinson, L.
(2020)
The Chinese Cinema Book
Robinson, L.
(2021)
Sundance, CNEX, and the Cultural Politics of Story
in World Records
YU SQ
(2024)
Reflections in the Post-Independent Cinema Era
Fan X
(2023)
In Search of Indie's Soul: Chinese Independent Cinema Today and Beyond
in Sense of Cinema
Wu L
(2022)
From Chinese independent cinema to art cinema: Convergence and divergence
in Asian Cinema
Berry, C.
(2022)
Crafting Chinese Memories
Lichaa F, Yang Y
(2022)
'The Keywords of Chinese Independent Cinema', Issue 3 of Chinese Independent Cinema Observe
Ran Ma, Akiyama Tamako
(2021)
'Sino-Japanese Connections in Independent Film Cultures (1989-2020)', Issue 1 of Chinese Independent Cinema Observer
Sabrina Qiong Yu, Wang Xiaolu
(2021)
'Pre-history of Chinese Independent Cinema', Issue 2 of Chinese Independent Cinema Observer
Title | Contemporary Murmurings of China's New Ethic Minorities: An Online Film Exhibition |
Description | The online film exhibition 'Contemporary Murmurings of China's New Ethnic Minorities' is co-curated by CIFA and the guest curator, filmmaker Gu Xue. The seven filmmakers participating in the exhibition are from the Tibetan, Mongol, Uyghur, and Ewenki ethnic groups in China. Most of them were born in the 1990s and are a new and emerging force in minority filmmaking today. The seven short films present the social, cultural, and spiritual life of ethnic minorities in a manner rarely seen in mainstream images and media. The exhibition includes 14-day online screening of seven films, the making and showcase of seven short videos about seven filmmakers, individual webpages devoted to each filmmaker on CIFA website, and an online symposium with the presence of all filmmakers and leading scholars in the field. From the world of the filmmakers' images to the real world in which they live, we hope that this exhibition will bring attention to this group of young, creative, and exploratory filmmakers, and rich and diverse cultures represented in their work. The exhibition includes 14-day online screening of seven films, the making and showcase of seven short videos about seven filmmakers, individual webpages devoted to each filmmaker on CIFA website, and an online symposium with the presence of all filmmakers and leading scholars in the field. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | The online film exhibition has been visited over 30,000 times during the exhibition and after it. |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/13845/ |
Title | I See the World through the Lens of My Camera: Norman A. Spencer |
Description | The online photography exhibition, curated by the CIFA team on our official website, aims to present the history of Chinese independent cinema iconographically through a transnational perspective. Norman Spencer, a professor based in USA experienced the important cultural events in China in the first decade of the 21st century when independent films were burgeoning. The exhibition showcased over 100 photos documenting the development of China's independent cinema that Norman has kindly donated to the CIFA. His candid photos capture historical and particular moments of Chinese independent cinema with a "Xianchang" style which conveys the sense of being in the moment and invokes things that happened before and after the moment of taking the photo. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | The online exhibition has been visited over 15,000 times (adding the view numbers of its Chinese and English pages) over the past three years since its launch.More than 60 attendees including some subjects in these photos joined Q&A session on 5 December 2020 with Norman Spencer and Chris Berry, and spoke highly of the exhibition. |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/cifa-launch-event-series-i-see-the-world-through-the-lens-of-my-camer... |
Title | Launch Exhibition: China through An Independent Lens |
Description | Through the participation of three representative independent filmmakers, Hu Jie, Wen Pulin, and Zhang Zanbo, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the origins of independent filmmaking in China in the 1980s, and Chinese independent filmmakers' persistence in uncovering history and confronting reality. By showcasing eight new video works from these three filmmakers, along with their diverse artistic work, such as woodcuts, paintings, photos, and installations, and a range of valuable historical documents and items (many of them shown in public for the first time), this two-week large exhibition in Newcastle Arts Centre invites visitors to observe this fast-changing country through an independent lens. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | This launch exhibition aims to present the dimensions and spirit of Chinese independent cinema, which emerged in the late 1980s and has been marginalised in China's cultural landscape by state censorship and film commercialisation. Through this exhibition, the Chinese Independent Film Archive was successfully launched and received overwhelming positive feedback. |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/launch-exhibition-china-through-an-independent-lens/ |
Title | Launch Poster Exhibition: Chinese Independent Film Posters by Wang Wo |
Description | This exhibition of posters, curated by the Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA) at Newcastle University, took place in the university's Robinson Library from 18 September to 10 December 2023. It offers a captivating window into the rich legacy of Chinese independent films and film exhibition. These posters were artistically crafted by Wang Wo, a notable graphic designer and a significant figure in the realm of Chinese independent filmmaking. The exhibited posters, meticulously chosen from over two hundred designs spanning the years from 2005 to 2023, were presented to the public for the first time. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | The exhibition received positive feedback from the visitors. The exhibition later became part of 'FAT China' exhibition, taking place in the gallery of the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, from 8 February to 10 March 2024. |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/23264/ |
Description | NuAct Fellowship for Lydia Dan Wu |
Amount | £350,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Newcastle University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 10/2028 |
Description | UKRI Covid Grant Extension Fund |
Amount | £24,208 (GBP) |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2021 |
End | 09/2021 |
Title | Chinese Independent Film Archive |
Description | While the original plan is to put the CIFA collections into Newcastle University Robinson Library's Special Collections, in order to make the collections more accessible to a wider audience, Newcastle University has provided a dedicated and newly-refurbished space for the archive. Brand new screening and viewing facilities including two computers within two booths, one big screen with sound system, and blinds are put into the space to enable the use of the archive. The Chinese Independent Film Archive was officially launched in September 2023. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Over 50 guests from 12 countries traveled to Newcastle to attend two-week archive launch event in September 2023. Since its launch, the archive has attracted the users/visitors including researchers, students and the general public from different cities in the UK and different countries in Europe. |
URL | https://outlook.office365.com/book/ChineseIndependentFilmArchivebookingcalendar@newcastle.onmicrosof... |
Title | 'Chinese Independent Cinema Observer' |
Description | In order to turn CIFA, the key output of this project, into the hub for the research into Chinese independent cinema and a platform for cross-cultural exchange and transnational collaboration, we launched a bi-lingual journal in 2021. Sabrina Q. Yu and Luke Robinson are its General Editors. We recruited and formed an editorial team comprising 12 editors, six of who are both film critics and filmmakers, and publish various types of work not restricted to academic articles, such as film reviews, personal memoirs, and video essays. This new journal aims to bridge the past and the present, academics and the general public, and film critics and filmmakers, and also offers opportunities for graduate students and early-career researchers to publish their work. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | We have published six book-length journal issues from 2021 to 2023 and made five of them available online for free reading and downloading. It has attracted a large number of readers and helped many researchers around the world (evidenced by feedback via emails and oral accounts). |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/publications/chinese-independent-cinema-observer/issues/ |
Title | Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA) official website |
Description | In response to a (post)-pandemic world, we have decided to make the archive we are currently building more accessible to people around the world by launching Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA)'s official website in November 2020 (www.chinaindiefilm.org). The CIFA website is not the outcome that we promised to AHRC but will function as a window to the collections in the archive (e.g. film database), a database of Chinese indie film related publications, and a platform to showcase our activities including regular columns, an online journal dedicated to Chinese indie cinema, online exhibitions, and so on. All these initiatives are not listed as deliverables in our bid and involve very small cost, but will contribute to the goals of this project, that is, to make the UK a hub and frontier for research into, and exhibition of, Chinese independent cinema, and to enhance the understanding of the culture, society and politics in contemporary China, for academic communities and the general public alike. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The website is attracting daily visits from all over the world and has made the archive known in both academia and industry. We have had nearly 1000 subscribers and are regularly contacted by researchers, students, industry professionals across the world for collaboration, the use of the archive and help connecting researchers/industry with Chinese indie filmmakers. |
URL | http://www.chinaindiefilm.org |
Title | Chinese independent film database |
Description | This is a bilingual film database in which the information of the films collected by the project are presented in both English and Chinese, including synopsis, release year, director's biography, director's statement, posters, etc. This information is available to the pubic. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | many researchers contacted us for the access to the films/filmmakers after they browsed our film database. Some film festivals and companies contacted us and explored the opportunity of showing or distributing films in our database. |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/films/ |
Title | Chinese independent films that have been screened in Japan since 1990 |
Description | Many Chinese independent films have been introduced to Japan since the 1990s. We have created this dataset that includes 354 Chinese films that were shown in Japan with relevant information. We have also made four database tables to record Chinese independent films that were distributed in Japan, or screened at Japanese film festivals and various events since 1990. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | From the dataset and four database tables, we can see the close relationship between Chinese independent films and Japan which is previously under-acknowledged and under-researched. The dataset and database tables provide rare and valuable first-hand research material for future researchers. |
Description | FAT (Film, Art & Theatre) China" Exhibition |
Organisation | University for the Creative Arts |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The exhibition showcased a range of thought-provoking works in film, art and theatre from CIFA collections. |
Collaborator Contribution | The exhibition brings the works of independent artists from China to the University for the Creative Arts' Farnham campus and co-curated by CIFA and Dr Ang Go from UCA. UCA helped creating some of exhibition items and installed the exhibition. |
Impact | "FAT China" exhibition presents Ren Zhijun's drawings, Wang Wo's film posters and Wu Wenguang's documentary - Bumming in Beijing in the Foyer Gallery, the University for the Creative Arts. A few films collected by CIFA were screened throughout the month as part of the event; a few school visits were hosted. |
Start Year | 2024 |
Description | industrial partnership with CNEX |
Organisation | CNEX Foundation |
Country | Hong Kong |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The team organised a film tour in which a film produced by this documentary foundation was showcased in four cinemas in four UK cities. |
Collaborator Contribution | CNEX helped clear the copyright, delivered the copy for screenings, and helped liaise with the filmmaker's attendance of the tour. |
Impact | a national film tour |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | 'Decolonising Film Theory through Asian Cinema' series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Chris Berry as the organiser and speaker, at "Thinking about Truth and Ethics through Chinese Documentary" workshop, Decolonising Film Theory through Asian Cinema" series, BFI Southbank. 20 February 2024. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | 'Gatekeeper', Study group, Sheffield Doc/Fest, by Luke Robinson |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Luke Robinson, the CI of this project, was invited to give a talk at Sheffield Doc/Fest on 18 May 2021, as a result of writing 'Sundance, CNEX and the Cultural Politics of Story' for World Records. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Academic conference: Reassessing Chinese Independent Cinema: Past, Present...and Future? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | As a response to pandemic, we turned the well-planned conference "Reassessing Chinese Independent Cinema: Past, Present And Future?" into an online event which took place on 29-30 January 202l. This is the first academic conference dedicated to Chinese independent cinema since it appeared thirty years ago. The conference aims to take stock of the past, present and future of Chinese independent film, and to consolidate and advance the field. The conference selected 25 presentations out of 50 submissions with the themes ranging from ethics, forms, gender, ecology, history, definition to production and exhibition of Chinese independent films. Speakers were required to pre-record their presentations which were made accessible to all speakers and registered attendees prior to the conference. The conference information reached more than 1400 people on Facebook, and the conference page on our website received nearly 2000 views. The total registered attendees were 350 and each panel had 80 attendees on average. The conference received very positive feedback from the participants both during and are the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/reassessing-chinese-independent-cinema-past-present-and-future/ |
Description | An article about the archive on The Guardian |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An extensive article about CIFA titled ' "Little by little, the truth is being discovered": the archive rescuing China's forbidden films'. The journalist visited the archive and interviewed Sabrina Qiong Yu and an archive user, and later a few Chinese indie filmmakers in order to write this article. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/20/chinese-independent-film-archive-newcastle |
Description | An interview with Sabrina Qiong Yu by Financial Times |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Sabrina Qiong Yu was interviewed and featured in an article titled 'Can China's indie filmmakers find a way around the censors?' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.ft.com/content/dacaa794-4968-48af-8fcf-2b3af29260c1 |
Description | CIFA Screening and Research Seminars |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The monthly seminars are organised by research students at Newcastle University and other UK universities, and open to researchers and students within and beyond Newcastle University, as well as the general public. During each seminar, following the screening of a carefully selected film on CIFA's large screen, a designated chair will facilitate a discussion related to the themes of the film as well as their own research topics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/the-launch-of-cifa-screening-and-research-seminars/ |
Description | CIFA Website Launch Event Series: Independent Film Criticism in China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | One of CIFA's missions is to collect and promote Chinese independent film criticism. CIFA's website has four critics/filmmakers who write columns for CIFA exclusively: academic Bao Hongwei; leading filmmaking and critic Wu Wenguang; film director and founder of Fanhall, Zhu Rikun; and critic and scholar Wang Xiaolu. To launch four columns, CIFA organised an online event on 16 January 2021 in which these four columnists talked about why they write and how they understand independent film criticism in China, followed by Q&A. The event page on CIFA's website has been viewed for nearly 1400 times, and the news of the event reached 1294 people on Facebook. More than 180 people across the world attended the event. The attendees discussed the concept of independent, niche and subculture, and the status-quo of film criticism in China with the columnists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | CIFA Website Launch Event Series: Li Wake's Semi-autobiographical Film The Crack |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | As one of its activities, CIFA has been searching and restoring little known indie films in the history of Chinese independent cinema. The Crack was one of them. It is a semi-autobiographical film by Li Wake, which tells a coming-of-age story of a little boy growing up during the Cultural Revolution. The film was originally shot on 35mm film in 2000 and only screened a couple of times in China. CIFA restored the film and organised an online premiere of the restored version for 20 days. We also hosted a Zoom event with the filmmaker, the curator who showed this film for the first time in 2002 and PI Sabrina Yu on 19 December 2020. The news of the event reached more than 900 people on Facebook and the event page on CIFA's website has been viewed for more than 1000 times. The total admission of the event was more than 90 people, and the discussion lasted for three hours. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | CIFA's Collaboration with Made in China Festival in Rennes, France |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Taking place during a weekend in October each year, Made in China, co-organised by Comptoir du Doc and the Institute Confucius de Bretagne in Rennes, France, aims to discover and promote Chinese documentaries that are socially engaged and artistically innovative. The festival offers a selection of documentaries from established filmmakers as well as emerging young filmmakers within and outside China, and workshops, roundtables, and exhibitions. In its 2022 edition, CIFA co-presented two films, Outside (2005) and Yumen (2013), with filmmakers Wang Wo and J.P. Sniadecki present for post-screening Q&As, and also curated an exhibition titled 'Chinese Independent Cinema through its Posters: A Retrospective of Wang Wo's Posters', which showcased some of the posters designed by Wang Wo for Chinese indie films and film festivals over the past two decades. As part of this year's programme, CIFA will also hold a roundtable titled 'Documentary, Ethnography, and Contemporary Art' to launch the fourth issue of CIFA's journal Chinese Independent Cinema Observer, 'Anthropology, Contemporary Art and Chinese Independent Documentaries'. Four members on the journal editorial team, Flora Lichaa, J.P. Sniadecki, Wang Wo, and Sabrina Q. Yu, participated in the roundtable discussion while introducing the journal and its latest issue. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/cifas-participation-in-made-in-china-festival-in-rennes%EF%BF%BC/ |
Description | CIFA's participation in Helsinki Cine Aasia in May 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Helsinki Cine Aasia is the only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland. Each year in March, Helsinki Cine Aasia presents the most interesting and touching films of the moment from East and Southeast Asia. Helsinki Cine Aasia is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. Lydia Wu, representing CIFA, was invited to talk about status-quo of Chinese independent filmmaking in this edition. This is an event open to general public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/cifas-participation-in-helsinki-cine-aasia/ |
Description | Chinese Avant-Garde Art of the 1980s: A Conversation with Cui Weiping & Wen Pulin, organised by CIFA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This online event aims to launch the issue 2 of Chinese Independent Cinema Observer. This online conversation is between two executive editors of this issue, Wang Xiaolu and Sabrina Qiong Yu, one of the authors of this issue, Cui Weiping, a former professor at the Beijing Film Academy, writer and social critic, and one of the interviewees of this issue, Wen Pulin, a writer, art critic, and pioneering independent documentary filmmaker in the 1980s. The conversation focuses on avant-garde art and the spirit of the 1980s, its influence on independent cinema after the 1990s, and whether there is still an art avant-garde in China today. It lasted 3 hours and 80 people attended this event. We subsequently added English subtitles to the event recording and put it up on our Youtube channel for a wider audience who were not able to join it. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Chinese Independent Film Archive YouTube Channel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We set up this YouTube channel to promote CIFA film collections and activities, and increase impact. It has five categories: CIFA Film Collection Playlist, CIFA Interviews, CIFA's Events, Film Trailers and Other Events. We regularly update it and circulate newsletters or Facebook posts to notify the followers our new additions. We have 4.62k subscribers until now (March 2024). One of the films we put up has 33k views, while others have views from a few hundred to a few thousand. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT4iLkANFJ_HSsSpshqtCoQ |
Description | Chinese Independent Film Archive's YouTube Channel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We launched CIFA YouTube Channel in December 2020 as a social media platform alongside our Facebook page and Twitter. On our channel, there are three section: CIFA's Film Collection Playlist where we upload some films for free viewing with filmmakers' permission; CIFA's Interviews where we upload the interviews or interview excerpts done by us; CIFA's Events where we upload video recordings of our events. We have had 223 subscribers in a couple of months since we launched the channel and nearly 1000 views so far. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Chris Berry as Jury Member of Shanghai Queer Film Festival, 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Chris Berry, Co-I of this project, was invited to be a jury member for Shanghai Queer Film Festival, an independent film festival, taking place in November 2019. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Chris Berry in conversation with Pema Tseden, Chinese Cinema Season London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Co-I Chris Berry engaged with an online conversation with Pema Tseden, a leading Tibetan filmmaker from China. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Contemporary Mumurings of China's New Ethnic Minorities -- An Online Film Exhibition by CIFA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This is a major event in which the works from seven young Uighur, Tibetan and Mongolian filmmakers have been showcased for the first time to draw attention to this emerging but little-noticed group of new talents. The exhibition includes 14-day online screening of seven films, the making and showcase of seven short videos about seven filmmakers, individual webpages devoted to each filmmaker on CIFA website, and an online symposium with the presence of all filmmakers and leading scholars in the field. The online film festival received over 7300 visits (its Chinese + English pages) and very positive feedback from audience members. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Earth in Crisis: Chinese Eco-Documentaries UK Tour |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 'Earth in Crisis: Chinese Eco-documentary UK Tour' is a project event. The Tour showcased a series of Chinese eco-documentary films foregrounding the growing ecological emergency facing our planet. The tour ran from 7 - 21 November 2019 and hosted three awarding winning independent filmmakers from China, Wang Jiuliang, Fan Jian and Wang Libo who presented their films Plastic China (2017), The Next Life (2011) + A Second Child (2019) and Oh, the Sanxia (2013) to UK audiences. Fourteen screenings and Q&A sessions took place at six arthouse cinemas and one university campus in six cities, including Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, Home in Manchester, Showroom in Sheffield, Lakeside Arts in Nottingham, Phoenix Cinema and Bertha DocHouse in London, and the University of Edinburgh. The tour raised the profile of Chinese independent films beyond the university campus and reached out to the general public in the UK for the first time in such a scale. 'Earth in Crisis' tour demonstrated a positive social impact reflected in media and community outreach and audience responses. The information of the tour reached 283 relevant organizations and individuals. Printed coverage reached 41,059 and achieved a value of £7,107.74 according to the data from Kantar Yellow News which is an international monitoring service for press. Online articles and event listings received coverage views of 45,600 and achieved 231 social shares. The total admissions are 616 and 48% are first time audience of Chinese indie cinema. According to our survey, average rating of the tour is 4.5 out of 5. 92% of audience members surveyed stated they definitely would see another Chinese independent film. 70% of audience members surveyed said they specifically learnt something new by attending the tour. Open comments show that the tour has changed some audience members' views on environmental problems and deepened their understanding of China. The tour has also attracted the attention from the UK film industry. We were contacted by the organisations such as Raindance Film Festival and Journeyman Pictures for possible distribution or selection of Chinese indie films. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://research.ncl.ac.uk/chinaindiecinema/events/upcomingevents/eventinnovember2019/#d.en.897643 |
Description | Launch Film Series: Chinese Independent Cinema Today |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The launch film series features 19 films from 19 Chinese independent filmmakers, and post-screening Q&As with 16 filmmakers. Most of the participating filmmakers have been making independent films for one or two decades. They screened their latest work, which has either come out in the past few years but never been previously screened in the UK, or has just been completed and will be shown for the first time. We would like to draw attention to the work of three younger-generation Chinese independent filmmakers who currently reside in Europe. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/film-series/ |
Description | Launch Roundtables |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Four roundtables took place in Newcastle Arts Centre and Newcastle University: Launch Roundtable 1: How to Continue Making Films Independently in China? Launch Roundtable 2: The Spirit and Legacy of Avant-garde Art in China in the 1980s Launch Roundtable 3: CIFA's Roles in Teaching and Researching China in Higher Education and Secondary Schools Launch Roundtable 4: Film Archives: Building Collections, Preservation, and Access in the Digital Era |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/launch-roundtables/ |
Description | Launch Symposium: The Exhibition and Circulation of Chinese Independent Films |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This symposium brought together filmmakers, curators, critics and scholars from different generations and different countries to discuss the exhibition and circulation of Chinese indie films in the past three decades. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/launch-symposium-the-exhibition-and-circulation-of-chinese-independen... |
Description | Media interview with Chris Berry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | On 12 April 2021, Chris Berry was interviewed for University of Hong Kong Journalism podcast, China Echo, Season 3, Episode 7, on Chinese government regulation of film, https://soundcloud.com/user-81913628/china-echo-s3-e7. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Online forum 'Sino-Japanese Connections in Independent Film Cultures', organised by CIFA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This online forum, bringing together a group of prominent early Chinese independent filmmakers and an influential Japanese filmmaker who helped them to start their career, as well as several leading Japanese scholars, unveiled the Japanese influence on and connection with Chinese indie cinema in the early 1990s that was previously unknown to researchers and the general public. The forum lasted four hours and attracted over 120 attendees from China, Japan, USA and Europe. The online photography exhibition 'Feng Yan's Encounters (Japan, Documentary, Those People and Those Events)', as part of the launch event, has been viewed for more than 2000 times. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | The Past and Present of the Dissemination of Chinese Independent Films |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | We organised this online panel to launch issue 3 of our journal Chinese Independent Cinema Observer. It is about past and present modes of circulating and exhibiting indie films in China. The discussion featured four contributors to this issue including film critic and curator Zhang Yaxuan, film producer and curator Yang Zi, and three indie filmmakers Cong Feng, Gan Xiao'er and Jiang Nengjie. The discussion lasted three and a half hours and attracted over 70 participants from all over the world. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/launch-event-for-issue-3-of-the-chinese-independent-cinema-observer-t... |
Description | The formal launch of Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA) official website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This event is an internal convention which brought together Chinese independent filmmakers, curators, critics and other stakeholders from the PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, France, and USA to introduce CIFA's missions and discuss its future development. Each of team members Sabrina Yu, Chris Berry, Luke Robinson and Lydia Wu gave a speech about various aspects of CIFA and then open to questions and discussions from the participants. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | an interview with Chris Berry by South China Morning Post |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | On 21 October 2020, Chris Berry was interviewed and quoted in Elaine Yau and Guo Rui, "Government Takeover of Independent Chinese Film Festival Fuels Fears of Loss of Autonomy," South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3106451/government-takeover-independent-chinese-film-festival-fuels. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | media interview with Sabrina Q. Yu by BBC's World Service programme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Sabrina Q. Yu was Interviewed and featured in BBC's World Service programme on Chinese indie filmmaker Hu Bo and his masterpiece An Elephant Sitting Still (2018). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |