Illustrated Lecture by Dr Jie Li: Cinematic Guerrillas Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China, 29 Nov 2024
We are very pleased that Professor Jie Li, winner of the 2024 Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award, will join us in person to present an illustrated lecture on her prize-winning book ‘Cinematic Guerrillas Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China‘
Friday 29th November, 6pm
Venue: BLOC, ArtsOne, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road London E1 4NS
Free to attend, booking essential
Click here to book
The Foundation is delighted to be collaborating with Queen Mary University, London to present an evening celebrating the winner of this year’s Moving Image Book Award Professor Jie Li, for her book ‘Cinematic Guerrillas Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China‘ (Columbia University Press).
Featuring: Jie Li, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University and Dr. Kiki Tianqi Yu, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London.
Lecture Overview:
How can cinema ignite a revolution and mobilise the masses? In socialist China, this question found its answer as the country’s film exhibition network expanded from fewer than six hundred movie theatres to more than a hundred thousand mobile film projectionist teams. These cinematic guerrillas—armed with projectors, power generators, loudspeakers, slideshows, and more—brought the silver screen to the most remote corners of the country, transforming rudimentary open-air spaces into theatres of revolutionary fervour.
In her groundbreaking book, Cinematic Guerrillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China, Jie Li offers a riveting media history of this phenomenon, delving into the intricate networks and environments that defined Chinese film exhibition and reception from the 1940s to the 1980s. Through extensive archival research, personal memoirs, interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork, Li uncovers the deep interconnections between cinema, ideology, and popular participation during this transformative period.
Following the lecture, Jie Li will be joined by Dr. Kiki Tianqi Yu, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London. Dr. Yu is a distinguished scholar and filmmaker with expertise in Chinese cinema, documentary practices, and visual culture. Together, they will engage in a dynamic conversation exploring the broader implications of Li’s research, the intersections of film and ideology, and the ongoing influence of cinema on society.
With thanks to Matthew Barrington for his help in organising this event.
About the Speakers:
Jie Li is a distinguished professor of East Asian languages and civilizations at Harvard University. Her scholarly work has garnered widespread acclaim, with her research focusing on the cultural history of socialist China. Li’s previous publications include Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Life (2014), Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution (2016), and Utopian Ruins: A Memorial Museum of the Mao Era (2020).
Kiki Tianqi Yu is a distinguished scholar and filmmaker with expertise in Chinese cinema, documentary practices, and visual culture. Her publications include ‘My’ Self on Camera: First Person Documentary Practice in an Individualising China (2019) and China’s iGeneration (2014). Dr. Yu’s award-winning films include Photographing Shenzhen (2006), Memory of Home (2009), China’s van Goghs (2016), and The Two Lives of Li Ermao (2019).
