Lights! Camera! Kaishi!
In Depth Interviews with China's New Generation of Movie Directors
Shaoyi Sun & Li Xun
December 2008 | 300 pages
$24.99 (paperback) | ISBN
978-1-78869-017-1
$44.99 (hardback) | ISBN
978-1-78869-018-8
In Lights! Camera! Kaishi! Sun and Li interview twenty-one young Chinese movie-makers on a variety of challenges facing them as cinema gradually emerges from the PRC’s long-standing censorship restrictions. Assembled by theme, the reader experiences a sense of eavesdropping on an open discussion between with these notable film directors. Includes biographical sketches (with color photos) of each participating director together with their filmographies.
“Lights! Camera! Kaishi! is much more than a book of thorough and revealing interviews with today’s Chinese film directors. Organized thematically, it is an excellent introduction to the contemporary Chinese film industry in the age of the market economy. From Jia Zhangke, winner of the 2006 Venice Golden Lion for Still Life to super blogger and female director Xu Jinglei, Lights! Camera! Kaishi! introduces a new generation of Chinese film directors to the world.”
—Chris Berry
Professor of Film and TV Studies
Goldsmiths College, University of London
“Lights! Camera! Kaishi! offers a unique perspective on the current Chinese film industry and the efforts of 21 leading young filmmakers to move that industry in a positive direction. By having these directors address a single broad theme in each chapter, we are able to listen as they, in effect, ”talk to each other” about nine of the most pressing issues facing filmmakers and Chinese cinema today. In the course of these interviews we are able to see how these directors differ from each other in personal and professional experiences as well as in their philosophical outlooks. This is an excellent choice as a text for classes in contemporary Chinese cinema and will prove equally valuable for conducting research on the Chinese film industry.”
—Stanley Rosen
Professor of Political Science
University of Southern California
“Lights! Camera! Kaishi! is an insightful study of the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers in mainland China. It contains illuminating interviews with the leading directors and sheds light on a whole range of important issues including: independent cinema; censorship; the film industry; and globalization. With this collaborative work, Sun and Li have made a significant contribution to Chinese film studies and provided us a useful and valuable resource.”
—Sheldon Lu
Professor of Chinese Cinema and Literature
University of California, Davis
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