Screening

About Poet on a Business Trip

Year Released:

2015

Genres:

Documentary

Metadata:

Directed by Anqi Ju

LEADING SCHOLARSHIP ON CHINESE CINEMA A young poet named Shu absurdly sends himself on a business trip through the rough terrain of the Xinjiang province. His encounters with a wide range of people and situations inspires 16 poems that are intertwined throughout the film. The road trip is a melding of documentary and fiction, creating a snapshot and verse for a China in transition, as well as an existential reflection on the irreversibility of time. The film was shot mostly in 2002 and edited 10 years later. Contains mature content, including nudity. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Introduction by Professor Chris Berry. (2K DCP Presentation)

Chris Berry

Chris Berry is a professor of film studies at King’s College in London. His research interests include Chinese and East Asian cinema and screen cultures; gender, sexuality and cinema; documentary film; and theories of national and transnational cinema. He co-edits two book series for Hong Kong University Press—TransAsian Screen Cultures and Queer Asia— and has been interviewed widely on Chinese and Asian cinema and screen cultures by The New York Times, BBC, The Korea Times, NHK Japan, and others.

Lecture: The Chinese Travel Film—Mobility and its Discontents
Monday, February 27 at 3:00 p.m., Room 1060 School of Global and International Studies

The new century has witnessed the transformation of Chinese society and Chinese cinema. This talk examines these changes through the emergence of the Chinese travel film. Once, most Chinese were stuck on the farm, dreaming of saving enough to buy a bicycle. Today, the country has the second largest automobile fleet in the world and Chinese tourists travel the world. The film industry has gone from state pedagogical project to genre-driven commercial industry. The Chinese travel film and its many sub-genres from tourism romances to alternative culture road movies imagine this social metamorphosis, and they indicate increasing awareness of the price paid for success.