Writing People`s Histories with Lenses--A Brief Review of The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement

Abstract

After the prolificacy in contemporary documentary film production in China since the 1990s, and a number of journal articles in which such documentary production and its phenomena are researched,1 we finally have a relatively thorough anthology of studies on the new documentary movement in China for the English-speaking world. The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record (henceforth The Movement) is the first of its kind, co-edited by two well-known Western scholars who specialize in Chinese cinema, culture and politics—Chris Berry and Lisa Rofel—as well as by Lu Xinyu, a key scholar in this field in China. The timely publication signals an arrival of maturity in the study of this crucial visual medium in the Chinese setting, which may generate immense significant value both academically and politically.