Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Independent Chinese Documentary: Alternative Visions, Alternative Publics

Independent Chinese Documentary: Alternative Visions, Alternative Publics

Edwards, Dan

Paperback

Series: Edinburgh Studies in East Asian Film

Film StudiesFilm Guides & Reference

ISBN10: 1399569465
ISBN13: 9781399569460
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: Sep 30 2026
Pages: 216
Weight: 0.69
Height: 0.46 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
There has been an explosion in Chinese independent documentary making since the turn of the twenty-first century. How are we to understand this vibrant burst of activity? Are these films brave expressions of dissidence? Or 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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