What are the characteristics of young generation Chinese filmmakers, who are born and grew up in post-socialist China?
Tianqi Yu : Mostly born in the 80s, they share a generational character that is heavily influenced by international culture, e.g. Japanese films, Hollywood and European cinema. This generation also grew up with the internet and user-generated content productions, so they are more diverse, self-expressive and personal, because the internet culture encourages self expression and social cultural participation. China’s established independent filmmakers, such as Jia Jiang Ke, focus more on realism cinema. They use a lot of long shots to capture the reality of society, but the characters themselves do not speak too much. They portray contemporary Chinese culture from a distance. However, new generation Chinese filmmakers are more personal, employ a more diverse variety of filming techniques and observe society from unique angles. For example, The 7th Medical Ward is about the lives of mentally disabled homeless people. The filmmaker did not present them as neglected and marginalised but rat
