About this Event
China has been on the spotlight for its rapid urbanization and tremendous economic growth. Big cities form a major theme in the mainstream Chinese film industry. On September 13, we will explore a different China —far from the bright lights of Shanghai and Beijing—with independent film scholar Karen Ma and Columbia University professor Richard Peña to talk about Karen’s new book: China’s Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers.
The book charts some of the newest cinematic and societal trends to emerge from China since the year 2000. It also features extended conversations with seven young indie artists born in the decade of 1980s—China’s first generation to benefit hugely not only from life-changing new technology, including digital video cameras, cell phones and the Internet, but also an unprecedented film industry boom. Karen will explain her motivation for writing this book, and how Chinese film is far more than Hollywood style blockbusters or star-powered comedies such as The Battle at Lake Changjin, Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown franchise. The post-1980s generation of auteurs, many from regional China, have focused their cameras squarely on China’s backwater towns, helping to shine a light on social concerns that are often missed in under-represented communities where tens of millions of Chinese still live.
Copies of China’s Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers will be available for purchase and can be signed by the author.
Karen Ma is the author of the recently released book China’s Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou Indie Filmmakers, which was published in June 2022 by Long River Press. An independent film scholar and movie critic specializing in Chinese cinema, she taught Chinese culture and film courses at The Beijing Center of Chinese Studies before relocating to the US in 2017. Ma has a bachelor’s degree from Tokyo’s Sophia University and an M.A. in Chinese literature from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is also the author of Excess Baggage (China Books, 2013), a novel about a Chinese family’s struggle to make its way in Tokyo. She has been teaching at China Institute as a Chinese language instructor since 2021.
Richard Peña is a Professor of Film Studies at Columbia University, where he specializes in film theory and international cinema. From 1988 to 2012, he was the Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Director of the New York Film Festival. A frequent lecturer on film internationally, in 2014-2015 he was a Visiting Professor in Brazilian Studies at Princeton, and in 2015-2016 a Visiting Professor in Film Studies at Harvard. In May, 2016, he was the recipient of the “Cathedra Bergman” at the UNAM in Mexico City, He currently hosts WNET/Channel 13’s weekly Reel 13.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
China Institute in America, 40 Rector Street, New York, United States
USD 10.00