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Polyphonic China Chinese new independent documentaries<http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-569> The last session: Tuesday 31st March 2009, 6pm - 8 pm. Venue: RS152, Cayley room, Regent Campus, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW Screening: TAXI (的哥) (dir. Fan Jian. 2008. 59mins, with *ENGLISH subtitles) screened at: Hong Kong Film Festival 2008 / The 5th China Independent Film Festival 2008* Talk: Making film in China now: Young Chinese filmmakers' experiences and strategies in contemporary mainland Chinese film industry Speaker: Tianqi Yu, CREAM, University of Westminster Synopsis: Beijing, a city rushing toward modernization, is the coordinate of China. Covered in the mask of the night, desire grows. Taxi, swarming in the city, never seems to pause. A taxi driver, thirty years old, married for 7 years, lives in Beijing. His passion has gone, in a city on its peak time of passion. Passengers are, teachers, doctors, students, merchants, pimps, prostitutes, believers...In spring, the driver says to every passenger, "the sand storm is coming tomorrow." Summer comes, the driver complains to the passengers that his wife doesn't love him anymore. The passengers also have their own share of stories of happiness and sorrow. Someone is going through a break-up and it is heart-breaking; someone came all the way to meet his old lover in a night club of Beijing; someone told the driver, it's normal to have a loveless life. Autumn time, the driver tells the passengers that, he wants to be a monk, but where is the place with the absolute peace? Different passengers have different responses and answers... Seasons change, color of the night remains, in which resides the stories of the mix of dreams, desires, and human nature... ----- In this session of Polyphonic China, Yu will put the new documentary practice into a larger field of contemporary Chinese film industry and analyse it from a cultural sociological viewpoint by presenting a study she has done on the experience and strategies of young Chinese filmmakers working in this field. The young Chinese filmmakers as *symbolic creators* are facing challenges and opportunities in the contemporary film industry of mainland China. The later is experiencing the process of rapid commercialisation and globalization. Yu's analysis revealed some main forces affecting young filmmakers' strategies, including their general knowledge background; the different sources of funding; the political censorship that constrains the production and distribution of films; the request for economic profit. Based on their different reactions to such forces and on to the different degrees of artistic autonomy, filmmakers hold two different strategies: producing commercial films or making critical social expression in the context of contemporary China. If you could contact me at [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>to indicate your attendance to help us keep check on numbers, it would be much appreciated. We are* *Looking forward to seeing you there! Best wishes, Tianqi Yu Ph.D candidate Research Assistant of Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media The School of Media, Arts and Design University of Westminster Watford Rd, Northwick Park Middlesex HA1 3TP Screening-seminars: Chinese new independent documentaries - UK Premiere!<http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-569>