Chinese Cinemas: International Perspectives

Chinese Cinemas: International Perspectives examines the impact the rapid expansion of Chinese filmmaking in mainland China has had on independent and popular Chinese cinemas both in and outside of China.

While the large Chinese markets are coveted by Hollywood, the commercial film industry within the People’s Republic of China has undergone rapid expansion since the 1990s. Its own production, distribution and exhibition capacities have increased exponentially in the past 20 years, producing box-office success both domestically and abroad.

This volume gathers the work of a range of established scholars and newer voices on Chinese cinemas to address questions that interrogate both Chinese films and the place and space of Chinese cinemas within the contemporary global film industries, including the impact on independent filmmaking both within and outside of China; the place of Chinese cinemas produced outside of China; and the significance of new internal and external distribution and exhibition patterns on recent conceptions of Chinese cinemas.

This is an ideal book for students and researchers interested in Chinese and Asian Cinema, as well as for students studying topics such as World Cinema and Asian Studies.

Felicia Chan is a Lecturer in Screen Studies at the University of Manchester researching the construction of national, cultural and cosmopolitan imaginaries in film. She is also co-editor of Genre in Asian Film and Television: New Approaches (2011), founding member of the Chinese Film Forum UK, and author of the forthcoming Cosmopolitan Cinema.

Andy Willis is a Reader in Film Studies at the University of Salford, Senior Visiting Curator at HOME, Manchester and a founder member of the Chinese Film Forum UK. He is co-author of The Cinema of Alex de la Iglesia (2007), editor of Film Stars: Hollywood and Beyond (2004), co-editor of Spanish Popular Cinema (2004) and of East Asian Film Stars (2014).