Last October I read Maja Korbecka’s piece on Stonewalling and independent film in China. I was very much intrigued by Huang Ji and Ruyji Otsuka’s cinematic expressions, film-making process, and production mode. The film is now showing again on the east coast and here is a NYtimes review ‘Stonewalling’ Review: A Young Woman’s Exchange Value.
We had the two directors on campus on 3/13-3/14 as the speakers for the First Transnational Asian Film Festival (TAFF) at Williams College, right before a severe storm hit our small town in northwest Massachusets. The public screening of Stonewalling and its afterward Q/A at Images Cinema invoked interdisciplinary interest on campus. Huang and Otuska’s three films in the past decade (Egg and Stone in 2012, The Foolish Bird in 2017, and Stonewalling in 2022), as well as their production method, offer great materials and ideas for both research and teaching!!
I’ve extended an invitation to the two directors, Huang Ji and Ruyi Otsuka, to come back to the US for a workshop and symposium between April and May 2024. Any colleagues who would be interested in inviting them as guest speakers for your campus, please contact me mh11@williams.edu. We could jointly share their work with our students!