We are excited to announce that the fourth issue of the Chinese Independent Cinema Observer, has been published.
The fourth issue of the Chinese Independent Cinema Observer, ‘Anthropology, Contemporary Art, and Chinese Independent Documentaries’, seeks to explore the vibrant interchanges and interactions between cinema, art, and ethnography. As noted by the two executive editors, J.P Sniadecki and Li Xiaofeng, who are both filmmakers and scholars, independent Chinese cinema has not merely been a passive recipient of influences from anthropology and art, but has powerfully invigorated and challenged the staid orthodoxy of ethnography and the commercial excess of contemporary art.
This issue consists of mainly the contributions by seventeen filmmakers who either reflect on, or are in conversation with each other about, their unique filmmaking processes or ideas, and offers first-hand accounts from indie filmmakers within and beyond China.
To launch this issue, a roundtable discussion titled ‘Documentary, Ethnography and Contemporary Art’, involving four members of the journal editorial team—Flora Lichaa, J.P. Sniadecki, Wang Wo, and Sabrina Q. Yu—will take place at the Made in China festival in Rennes, France, on 1 October 2022.
The issue, and its individual articles, can be downloaded here: https://www.chinaindiefilm.org/anthropology-contemporary-art-and-chinese-independent-documentaries/
Luke Robinson