Contemporary Art Cinema Culture in China

Book excerpt: How do contemporary Chinese audiences access art cinema? What are the alternative channels for the distribution and exhibition of art cinema in China? How is Chinese art cinema changing with the booming of internet media and commodity culture in the 21st century? To answer these questions, Xiang Fan explores the dynamic networks of art cinema in China in the 21st century, highlighting the cultural practices of intermediaries such as independent programmers, internet critics, and fan translators. Offering insights gleaned from original ethnographic research, Fan reveals how these intermediary practitioners think about cinema, negotiate judgement and appreciation, construct a discourse of value and taste, and most importantly, constitute a coordinated and interrelated network for the sharing of art cinema. She argues that although their motivation was derived from a cinephilia seeking to forge an alternative mode of distribution and reception, the 'new' cinema culture they have produced simultaneously negotiates a subtly complicit relationship with authoritative and market forces. In doing so, she offers an original interdisciplinary perspective on contemporary art cinema culture in Chinese society.