Overview
From Paula Curtis Collection[1]: Chinese Independent Film Festival posters and ephemera from the Li Xianting Film Fund Archive and REEL China Film Festival that occurred during 2004 to 2016. REEL China was an influential Chinese documentary film festival biennial organized by the New York City–based Chinese artist Zhang Pingjie that introduced Chinese independent and underground documentary film first to Americans and later to Chinese audiences mostly in Shanghai. Beijing Independent Film Festival and China Documentary Film Festival were organized by the prominent public intellectual Li Xianting in the artist village Songzhuang on the outskirts of Beijing and functioned as the premier alternative culture venues for independent cinema in China. Inspired by Unrestricted New Image Festival (2001) at Beijing Film Academy and First Chinese Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (2001) at Beijing University, they openly challenged the status quo by screening films that depicted taboo subjects such as social and gender inequality, the flaws and injustice of corrupt local government officials, and the lives of the LGBTQ community. Many of the films depicted the customs and life in remote areas of China as well as the experience of Chinese living on the margins of society.
- Institution/Author: University of California, SanDiego
- Period: Modern
- Geographic Focus: China
- Access: Open Access
Digital Humanities Resources on East Asia by Dr. Paula R. Curtis ↩︎