Moderator: Dr. Daniel
Vukovich, Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
Once celebrated by the
award of a literary prize dedicated to “migrant authors,” minority German
literature has become a staple of contemporary world literature. This talk
analyzes the rise of the Afro-German literary movement, its concerns with
social justice, race, gender, and poetics, and the commonalities it shares with
German Turkish literature and performance through tropes of blackness. Second,
the presentation poses questions about the relations between minority German
literature and black internationalism as an early form of exchange and activism
that contributes to world literature in Western and non-Western contexts. The
talk concludes by considering the function of futurity in minority literatures.
Speaker bio:
Arina Rotaru is a
Lecturer at NYU Shanghai and a visitor at the Center for the Study of Cultures
and Globalization at the University of Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in German
Studies and Comparative Literature from Cornell University and her research
covers avant-garde literature and film, postcolonial studies, world literature.
Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal of World Literature,
Germanic Review, Forum for Modern Language Studies and edited collections on Worlding
Asia, Totalitarian Arts, and Aesthetics and Politics. She is currently working
on two book projects on contemporary avant-garde literature in twenty-first
German-speaking literature and on diasporic poetics.
Date: 10 April 2019 Time: 2-3:30pm Venue: 4.36, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
All are welcome.
For general enquiries,
please contact Christine Vicera at viceracn@hku.hk
Speakers: Jo Walton, Aliette de Bodard, Regina Kanyu Wang, Rebecca F. Kuang
Speakers’ bio: Jo Walton Jo Walton is author of 13 Sci-Fi and fantasy novels, with her latest, Lent, due out in May. She has won many awards including Hugo and Nebula awards for Among Others, and the Tiptree Award for My Real Children in 2015. Jo is from Wales, but emigrated to Montreal in Canada in 2002. She plans to live to be 99 and write a book every year.
Aliette de Bodard Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Obsidian and Blood trilogy of Aztec noir fantasies, as well as numerous short stories that have garnered her two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and two British Science Fiction Association Awards
Regina Kanyu Wang Regina Kanyu Want is a bilingual writer from Shanghai, and graduate of Fudan University. She is a member of Shanghai Writer’s Association and the World Chinese Sci-Fi Association, and has been invited as a guest of Shanghai-Taipei Literary camp, the Euro-Asia Economic Forum and Sun Yat-Sen University Writing Residency.
Rebecca F. Kuang Rebecca F. Kuang was born in Guangzhou, emigrated to the US in 2000, and has a BA from Georgetown University. Her debut novel The Poppy War was published by Harper Voyager in 2018 and was a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist and one of Time’s Best Books of 2018. The sequel The Dragon Republic comes out in August
Moderators: Dr. Alvin Wong, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU Mr. William Lau, English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Date: Friday 22 March 2019 Time: 4-6 PM Venue: 4.36, 4/F, Sir Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Register at goo.gl/WPVK1x for a chance to win free tickets to Melon 2019: Aliens on the Galactic Silk Road!
This year’s programme features in-depth dialogues with eight renowned documentary filmmakers and artists: Tsai Ming Liang, Jewel Maranan, Bettina Perut, Iván Osnovikoff, Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, Philippe Bellaiche and Luke Lorentzen.
Date: 21 – 28 . 03 . 2019 | 7:30pm
Location: Studio Room 303, Chong Yuet Ming Cultural Centre, HKU
Events
21 . 3 . 2019 (Thu): Dialogue with Jewel Maranan
Jewel Maranan is an independent documentary filmmaker and producer from the Philippines. She started working for independent documentaries in 2008, tackling conflict situations in Manila. Throughout the years, she has developed a deep interest in the ways by which history inches through ordinary life. She fixed her critical eye on the lives in the shadow of Tondo’s ever-engulfing port and finished her latest work IN THE CLAWS OF A CENTURY WANTING (2017), speaking for the silent from a small town near Manila. Jewel is an active participant in efforts to help develop Southeast Asian documentary through the SEA DocNet, a network of documentary professionals in Southeast Asia.
22 . 3 . 2019 (Fri): Dialogue with Tsai Ming-Liang
Born in Malaysia in 1957, Tsai Ming-Liang is one of the most prominent film directors of the new cinema movement in Taiwan. In 1994, his film VIVE L’AMOUR won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, establishing his status in international cinema. In 2009, FACE became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes.” It has since become the benchmark for films venturing into the world of art galleries. His STRAY DOGS (2013) was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice Film Festival. In recent years, Tsai Ming-Liang has also moved on to installation art, showcased in exhibitions held in various cities including Taipei, Venice, Shanghai and Nagoya.
Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff have worked together since 1997 directing and producing documentaries. With seven feature films to their credit, their poetic journey is full of turning points and mutations that have accompanied the technological and cultural transformations of their time, challenging the most stable and conservative premises of what is meant by documentary filmmaking. Their work SURIRE (2015) is about the Surire salt flat located in the Chilean high plateau. As observation in visual language, it is a film that portrays this unique space in which natural beauty, human absurdity and cultural decline coexist.
Ljubomir Stefanov & Tamara Kotevska co-directed the documentary film HONEYLANDwhich won three awards at Sundance 2019 including World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. Ljubomir Stefanov has over 20 years of experience in development and production of communication concepts and documentaries related to environmental issues and human development. He worked for clients such as UN agencies, EuroNatur and Swisscontact. Tamara Kotevska graduated in film directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts Skopje. She has 5-year experience in documentary and fiction film making as a freelance film director.
28 . 3 . 2019 (Thu): Dialogue with Philippe Bellaiche & Luke Lorentzen
Born in Paris, Philippe Bellaiche is an award-winning cinematographer. His latest production , which he also produced and co-directed, ADVOCATE features Lea Tsemel, a Jewish-Israeli lawyer who has represented political prisoners for five decades. Luke Lorentzen graduated from Stanford University in art history and film studies. He directed MIDNIGHT FAMILY which won U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography at Sundance 2019. The documentary tells the story of the Ochoa family which runs a private ambulance in Mexico City, competing with other for-profit EMTs for patients in need of urgent help.
How do films circulate internationally and what role do film markets, film festivals, and film venues play in this
phenomenon?
Three programmers who specialise in Asian cinema will discuss these matters along with their individual strategies, training, and success stories during this special panel. All three panelists are in Hong Kong for Filmart and the Hong Kong International Film Festival so particular attention will be given as to how these two events empower them to do what they do more effectively.
Speakers: Dr Elena Pollacchi Elena Pollacchi is Lecturer in Chinese Studies. She has taught courses on Chinese cinema and culture at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy) and at Gothenburg University (Sweden). She is also programmer for Chinese and South Korean film at the Venice International Film Festival. Her research encompasses the Chinese film market in its transnational connections, Chinese documentary film, and film festivals. Her recent publications include chapters in Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation (eds. C. Berry, L. Robinson, Palgrave Macmillan 2017), Taiwan Cinema: International Reception and Social Change (eds. K. Chiu, M. Rawnsley, G. Rawnsley, Routledge, 2017) and Screening China’s Soft Power (P. Voci, L.Hui; Routledge, 2018), and the article “Extracting narratives from reality: Wang Bing’s counter-narrative of the China Dream” for the Journal of Documentary Studies (Special Issue: Engagement, Witnessing and Activism: Independent Chinese Documentary Filmmakers Different Positions, Approaches and Aesthetics), 11:3 (2017).
Prof Andrew Willis Andy Willis is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford, Senior Visiting Curator: Film at HOME in Manchester, and a founder member of The Chinese Film Forum UK. He has written widely on film related topics with a special interest in popular cinemas and UK distribution and exhibition trends. He has curated numerous film seasons including Visible Secrets: Hong Kong’s Women Filmmakers (2009) and CRIME: Hong Kong Style (2016).
Mr Samuel Jamier Samuel Jamier is the Executive Director of the critically-acclaimed New York Asian Film Festival, which is known for its outstanding selection of entertainment and arthouse films. He was previously the chief programmer for the Japan Society and was in charge of the Japan Cuts Film Festival. Highly knowledgeable and familiar with Asian films and regional industries, Jamier was in Singapore as part of the recently concluded SGIFF 2018, where he served as an International Advisor on the Silver Screen Awards Panel.
Moderator: Dr Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
Children at a Village School a Jiang Nengjie’s film (Putonghua & Dialect dialogue, Chinese & English subtitles) 2009: First glance at the village school, in which the lives of 22 students including 17 left-behind children, together with the unsmooth application of the school’s reconstruction, were focused on. 2010: Teacher Zhang, a supply teacher with more than 10 years teaching experience, was assigned to the reconstructed school. While in charge of two classes, he was concerned about, and striving for the obtainment of permanent teaching status. Meanwhile, folks began to doubt on the quality of the school buildings, as the left-behind children were facing numerous problems in life, study and emotion. 2011: Mr. Zhang left the school out of dissatisfaction. After he left, the problems those left-behind children were confronting with became more serious. 2012: Thanks to the media, the material condition of the village school began to turn around. However, it still had a long way to go. 2013: The situation of those left-behind children seems unchanged, but it turned out to get changed day by day. 2014: As another Spring Festival comes, what is going on in those left-behind families?
Date: 19 March 2019 (Tuesday) Time: 16:00 (15:30 – Reception; 16:00 – Film Screening; 17:35 – Discussion) Venue: Lecture Hall, G/F, May Hall, HKU Discussion with Director Jiang Nengjie, and Dr. Wang Dan (in Putonghua & English) Free admission; first come, first served. Poster: www.hkihss.hku.hk/events/film21 Enquiries: 3917 5772 | ihss@hku.hk
(This is an event jointly organized by The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and Wah Ching Centre of Research on Education in China, The University of Hong Kong.)
As Chinese performers have become more visible on global screens, their professional images – once the preserve of studios and agents – have been increasingly relayed and reworked by film fans. Web technology has made searching, poaching, editing, posting and sharing texts significantly easier, and by using a variety of seamless and innovative methods a new mode of personality construction has been developed. With case studies of high-profile stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, this ground-breaking book examines transnational Chinese stardom as a Web-based phenomenon, and as an outcome of the participatory practices of cyber fans.
This talk focuses on the star-making phenomenon in the backdrop of digital culture. The advent of Web technology and fan participation enable ordinary audiences of various cultural backgrounds to readily transpose filmic and publicity materials about famed figures from DVD to fan-site, from movie website to blog, realizing distinct star-fan dynamics.
Speaker’s bio: Dorothy Wai Sim Lau is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research interests include digital culture, cyberculture, Chinese-language cinema, transnational cinema, stardom and fandom. Her publications appear in journals such as positions: asia critique, Continuum, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Journal of Asian Cinema, and a number of edited volumes. She is also the author of Chinese Stardom in Participatory Cyberculture (2018). She is currently writing her next monograph, Reorienting Chinese Stars in Global Polyphonic Network: Voice, Ethnicity, Power (working title) (Palgrave Macmillan, under contract).
Lesbians didn’t always get to see themselves on screen. But between Stonewall, the feminist movement, and the experimental cinema of the 1970s, they built visibility, and transformed the social imagination about queerness. Filmmakers Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich, Rose Troche, Cheryl Dunye, Yoruba Richen, Desiree Akhavan, Vicky Du, film critic B. Ruby Rich, Jenni Olson, and others share moving and often hilarious stories from their lives and discuss how they’ve expressed queer identity through film.
For enquiries, please contact Ms. Christine Vicera at viceracn@hku.hk
Illiberal China analyzes the ‘intellectual political culture’ of post-Tiananmen China in comparison to and in conflict with liberalism inside and outside the P.R.C. How do mainland politics and discourses challenge ‘our’ own, chiefly liberal and anti-‘statist’ political frameworks? To what extent is China paradoxically intertwined with a liberal economism? How can one understand its general refusal of liberalism, as well as its frequent, direct responses to electoral democracy, universalism, Western media, and other normative forces? Vukovich argues that the Party-state poses a challenge to our understandings of politics, globalization, and even progress. To be illiberal is not necessarily to be reactionary and vulgar but, more interestingly, to be anti-liberal and to seek alternatives to a degraded liberalism. In this way Chinese politics illuminate the global conjuncture, and may have lessons in otherwise bleak times.
Advance Reviews:
“Illiberal China, from its punning title forwards, reveals how China is the objectified “other” of the West, but is also an actually existing subject with its own intrinsic logic full of paradoxes and tensions. It examines the political-economic and cultural narratives surrounding the different representations of “China,” as well as their logical boundaries and interrelationships. The book intertwines external and internal, global and domestic perspectives. At the same time, Vukovich tries to reflect critically on Western liberalism by presenting “China as a problem.” Vukovich deals frankly with many complex and sensitive topics, although this style is not an end in itself but serves to open up a new discursive space. He believes “China” challenges previous theoretical and historical narratives, especially those attached to political theory and concepts such as liberalism or democracy. This is a powerful, subtle book that challenges Chinese research from a different paradigm and theoretical system. It deserves serious attention indeed.” (Lu Xinyu, East China Normal University, China)
“Understanding today’s China is an intellectual and moral challenge. Vukovich takes it head on and makes a paradoxical case that “illiberal China” may be the best hope in this bleak moment in history. China may or may not deliver on the hope, but I am sure everyone will benefit from reading this well informed and thought-provoking study on the contemporary Chinese ideological struggle in its global context.” (Zhiyuan Cui, Tsinghua University, China)
“Liberal values and practices are supposed to be universal and China seemed to be going in the “right” direction. Until recently, that is. It now seems clear that the Chinese political system will evolve based on its own “illiberal” foundations. Vukovich’s original book argues that what he terms “progressive illiberalism” not only fits China’s political context, it is also defensible from a normative point of view. Whatever we think of his controversial argument, it will generate much-needed discussion.” (Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University and Tsinghua University, China)
Edited by Sebastian Veg Hong Kong University Press, 2019
The present volume provides an overview of new forms of popular memory, in particular critical memory, of the Mao era. Focusing on the processes of private production, public dissemination, and social sanctioning of narratives of the past in contemporary China, it examines the relation between popular memories and their social construction as historical knowledge. The three parts of the book are devoted to the shifting boundary between private and public in the press and media, the reconfiguration of elite and popular discourses in cultural productions (film, visual art, and literature), and the emergence of new discourses of knowledge through innovative readings of unofficial sources. Popular memories pose a challenge to the existing historiography of the first thirty years of the People’s Republic of China. Despite the recent backlash, these more critical reflections are beginning to transform the mainstream narrative of the Mao era in China.
Public discussions of key episodes in the history of the People’s Republic, in particular the Anti-Rightist Movement of 1957, the Great Famine of 1959–1961, and the Cultural Revolution, have proliferated in the last fifteen years. These discussions are qualitatively different from previous expressions of traumatic or nostalgic memories of Mao in the 1980s and the 1990s respectively. They reflect a growing dissatisfaction with the authoritarian control over history exercised by the Chinese state, and often they make use of the new spaces provided for counter-hegemonic narratives by social media and the growing private economy in the 2000s. Unofficial or independent journals, self-published books, social media groups, independent documentary films, private museums, oral history projects, and archival research by amateur historians, all of which analyzed in this collection, have contributed to these embryonic public or semi-public dialogues.
“An excellent guide to the independent journalism, cultural production, and amateur histories that are transforming the mainstream narrative of the Mao era in China. Rich in detail and sound in analysis, these studies document the emergence of critical memory in Chinese society. A valuable resource for students and scholars.” —Timothy Cheek, University of British Columbia; author of The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History“Popular memories of the Mao era are signposts of contemporary politics and culture. This volume features exciting new research by distinguished scholars. Extremely rich and readable, the chapters in this collection illuminate both China’s past and present. A timely and important contribution.” —Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania; author of The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China
Table of Contents Introduction: Trauma, Nostalgia, Public Debate By Sebastian Veg
Part I. Unofficial Memories in the Public Sphere: Journals, Internet, Museums
Writing about the Past, an Act of Resistance: An Overview of Independent Journals and Publications about the Mao Era By Jean-Philippe Béja
Annals of the Yellow Emperor: Reconstructing Public Memory of the Mao Era By Wu Si
Contested Past: Social Media and the Production of Historical Knowledge of the Mao Era By Jun Liu
Can Private Museums Offer Space for Alternative History? The Red Era Series at the Jianchuan Museum Cluster By Kirk A. Denton
Part II. Critical Memory and Cultural Practices: Reconfiguring Elite and Popular Discourse
Literary and Documentary Accounts of the Great Famine: Challenging the Political System and the Social Hierarchies of Memory By Sebastian Veg
Filmed Testimonies, Archives, and Memoirs of the Mao Era: Staging Unofficial History in Chinese Independent Documentaries By Judith Pernin
Visual Memory, Personal Experience, and Public History: The Rediscovery of Cultural Revolution Underground Art By Aihe Wang
Part III. Unofficial Sources and Popular Historiography: New Discourses of Knowledge on the Mao Era
The Second Society By Frank Dikötter
Case Files as a Source of Alternative Memories from the Maoist Past By Daniel Leese
Popular Memories and Popular History, Indispensable Tools for Understanding Contemporary Chinese History: The Case of the End of the Rustication Movement By Michel Bonnin
This collection offers new approaches to theorizing Asian film in relation to the history, culture, geopolitics and economics of the continent. Bringing together original essays written by established and emerging scholars, this anthology transcends the limitations of national borders to do justice to the diverse ways in which the cinema shapes Asia geographically and imaginatively in the world today. This handbook will serve as an essential guide for committed scholars, students and all those interested in the past, present and possible future of Asian cinema in the 21st century.
The event will feature a series of short presentations given by contributors of the anthology including Aaron Magnan-Park, Gina Marchetti, Winnie Yee, Staci Ford, See Kam Tan and Bruno Lovric.
