Workshop at Visible Evidence XXVI Los Angeles: The Future of Independent Documentary in China

24-28 July 2019 Los Angeles

Participants: Michael Berry, Luke Robinson, Jenny Choi, Zhu Rikun, Sabrina Qinog Yu, Lydia Dan Wu

This workshop addressed  the future of independent documentary in China,and the future of studies on independent Chinesedocumentary. Is there a future? Or, in the current political climate, has independent film-making morphed into something different? With the old independent festivals disbanded, can newer, hybrid events such as the West Lake International Documentary Film Festival provide a home for such filmmaking? Is the art gallery a safer space? Does the move overseas of many established directors signal the end of an era, or the emergence of a newer, transnational network of production? What might these empirical changes suggest for future studies of Chinese documentary and Chinese cultural production, writ large? We hope to use this space to generate a conversation around these and other pressing questions.‌

This has just been written up by Maya Rudolph at dGenerate Films. Have a read!

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