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Independent Chinese Documentary: Alternative Visions, Alternative Publics

Online ISBN:
9781474412186
Print ISBN:
9780748695621
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

Independent Chinese Documentary: Alternative Visions, Alternative Publics

Dan Edwards
Dan Edwards
University of Melbourne and Monash University
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Published:
1 June 2015
Online ISBN:
9781474412186
Print ISBN:
9780748695621
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

Since the turn of the twenty-first century there has been an explosion in Chinese independent documentary filmmaking. But how are we to understand this vibrant burst of activity? Are these films brave expressions of dissidence, or do they point to a more complex attempt to expand the terms of public discourse in the People’s Republic? This timely study is based on detailed interviews with Chinese documentary makers rarely available in English, and insights gained by the author while working as a journalist in Beijing. It considers the relationship between independent documentaries and China’s official film and television sectors, exploring the ways in which independent films probe, question and challenge the dominant ideas and narratives circulating in the state-sanctioned public sphere. Detailed analyses of key contemporary documentaries reveal a sustained attempt to forge an alternative public sphere where the views and experiences of petitioners, AIDS sufferers, dispossessed farmers and the victims of Mao’s repression can be publicly aired for a small, but steadily growing, public.

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