Independent Chinese Documentary

Dan Edwards has published over 70 articles on film and media in Australian newspapers and magazines. He worked as a magazine writer in Beijing, China from 2007-11, before completing a PhD in film and television at Monash University in 2014. Prior to living in China he worked for the Communications Branch of the Australian Film Commission and was the editor of the OnScreen section of RealTime arts magazine. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he teaches film at the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsA Note on TerminologyIntroductionDefining Independence in a Chinese ContextEngineering Hegemony in Today’s ChinaChina’s Official Public Sphere as an Arena of Hegemonic InfluenceWhat Distinguishes Independent Documentaries from State-sanctioned Representations?Chapter One: From Underground Practice to Alternative Public SphereThe New Documentary Movement as an Underground Filmmaking PracticeIndependent Documentary Culture in the Digital EraChapter Two: A Public of Viewer-producersU-thèque: Screening Group, Training Centre and Production CollectiveParticipatory Documentary Practice: Meishi StreetParticipatory Documentary as Rural ReconstructionChapter Three: Remembering the Past, Reclaiming HistoryThe Chinese Amnesia and Official Historical RepresentationsReclaiming the Historical Subject: Searching for Lin Zhao’s SoulReclaiming the Public Memorial: Though I Am GoneA Growing Body of Historical TestimonyChapter Four: The Right to be Public and a Public with RightsDocumentary and the Rights Defence MovementProvoking an Interclass Response: Taishi VillageAIDS and Activism: The Central Plains and Care and LoveThe Impact of Activist Documentaries in Contemporary ChinaChapter Five: The Ethics of Encounter in Chinese DocumentaryThe Perceived Crisis of Values in Contemporary ChinaComplicity and Reflexivity: Paper AirplaneThe Ethics of Portraying the Powerless: PetitionEthical Questions as Political Threat in China’s Alternative Public SpheresAfterword: Future Prospects for the Alternative Public Sphere of Independent DocumentaryGlossary of Chinese TermsFilmographyBibliographyIndex

Edwards’ volume functions in various ways as an update on the rapidly changing independent documentary scene in China...One of the most outstanding features of Edwards’ book is that he consistently deploys first-class journalistic methodologies by conducting revealing, in-depth interviews with the filmmakers themselves...an inspiring book.