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Independent Chinese documentary: from the studio to the street

Independent Chinese Documentary (approximately 80,000 words) is the first English-language monograph on the ‘New Chinese Documentary Movement’. It traces the re-emergence of ‘liveness’ as a practice and poetics among independent non-fiction filmmakers in China, situating this development against the wider transformations wrought by the PRC’s transition from Maoism to state-directed capitalism. The book is based on five years of research in China and the UK, and draws on an ephemeral archive of primary material – including unreleased documentaries, festival publications, film magazines, and personal interviews and correspondence – to establish a unique perspective on this still under-examined filmmaking scene.