Making Films is Like Friends Getting Together and Having Parties: Hongwei Bao in Conversation with Cui Zi’en

Bao, Hongwei; Cui, Zi'en

Abstract

Cui Zi’en (b. 1958 in Harbin, China) is one of the best-known queer filmmakers, writers and activists in the Chinese-speaking world. He was the first ‘out’ gay public persona in post-Mao China, coming out on state television in 2000. He has made about ten films including Old Testament (2001), Night Scene (2003), Star Appeal (2004), Refrain (2006) and Queer China, ‘Comrade’ China (2008). Most of his films are fiction films with avant-garde aesthetics and celebrating gender fluidity, sexual pleasure and queer desire. Cui has produced, scripted and acted in more than twenty films. They are fine exemplars of ‘new queer Chinese cinema’ and queer Sinophone cinema. The following interview took place between Cui Zi’en and Hongwei Bao online on 28 February 2020. It primarily focuses on Cui’s radical filmmaking practice and his critique of the mainstream film industry.

Citation

Bao, H., & Cui, Z. (2023). Making Films is Like Friends Getting Together and Having Parties: Hongwei Bao in Conversation with Cui Zi’en. In U. Böckler, J. Lazarus, & A. Weltz-Rombach (Eds.), Radical Film, Art and Digital Media for Societies in Turmoil (223-227). K. Verlag

• Publication Date: 2023-09
• Deposit Date: Jun 16, 2023
• Pages: 223-227
• Book Title: Radical Film, Art and Digital Media for Societies in Turmoil
• ISBN: 9783947858309
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/21915888
• Publisher URL: https://k-verlag.org/books/radical-film-2023/
• Contract Date: Jun 16, 2023