Member Publication: Independent Chinese Documentary

From: Luke Robinson <[email protected]>

Dear H-Film,

Apologies both for self-promotion and for cross-posting, but some members
might be interested in the recent publication of my new book on independent
Chinese documentary:

http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=496994

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (28 Jan 2013)
ISBN-10: 023029829X
ISBN-13: 978-0230298293
Price: £50.00

In the past 20 years, China has witnessed the flowering of an independent
documentary cinema characterized by a particular vérité aesthetic.
Independent Chinese Documentary traces the roots of this style back to the
1980s, and the gradual abandonment of studio-based filmmaking, dominant
during the Maoist era, for shooting live and on location. Known in Chinese
as xianchang – or being ‘on the scene’ – this documentary practice is
distinguished by its embrace of the contingent. Through a series of
synoptic case studies, this book considers the different ways in which
contingency manifests in independent Chinese documentary; the practical and
aesthetic challenges its mediation presents for individual film directors;
and the reasons for the quality's significance, and enduring appeal, in the
context of China’s ongoing transition from socialism to capitalism.

‘Luke Robinson’s Independent Chinese Documentary is the first monograph in
English on this crucial cultural movement. Robinson sustains a beautifully
clear argument for spontaneity and contingency as the key elements that
make independent documentary the cultural response to China's shift from
socialist planning to citizen initiatives. Rigorously researched, it covers
the entire twenty years of independent Chinese documentary in sophisticated
yet lucid detail.’
— Chris Berry, King’s College London, UK

Best,

Luke Robinson

Lecturer in Film and TV Studies
Department of Culture, Film and Media
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD

Tel: 0115-8467465
Fax: 0115-9515182
Email: [email protected]