The Global Generation of Chinese Film Directors — Chinese Films at the 2021 Busan International Film Festival

초록

This essay is based on the nineteen Chinese (including Taiwanese and Hong Kong) movies which were screened at the BIFF this year while referring to other Chinese films from recent years. Using the BIFF 2021 as a constructive platform to detect general changes that took place in Chinese independent cinema in the last decade, this essay presents the notion of what I call the “Global Generation of Chinese Film Directors.” Focusing on this term, this essay delves into recent films from mainland China rather than presenting exhaustive reviews of all the films. It provides a sketch of Chinese non-mainstream films of the last decade through the window of the BIFF 2021. My term, the “Global generation,”can be contextualized in the terminology of Chinese film generations, and, in particular, it builds on the notion of the “urban generation.” The Sixth generation directors were often referred to as the “urban generation.” The term highlights the urban minorities’ precarious, individualist moods, low budget, and neorealist styles against the Fifth generation’s grand spectacles of rural landscape and communal, epic themes. I approach the global generation in relation to global film festivals and discuss the generation’s educational and career backgrounds. The global generation of Chinese filmmakers is marked by ethnic, regional, gender and stylistic diversity.

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