Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
0:00 // Introduction — Chinese independent documentary and the question of going global
3:28 // The Sundance-K'Nex workshops — training Chinese filmmakers for overseas markets
7:40 // Story as commodity — character-driven narrative and the three-act structure
10:07 // The humanitarian industrial logic — NGOs, storytelling and the Open Society Foundation
14:12 // Plastic China — the film, its subjects and its international success
16:01 // How the film works — two families, a child's right to education and formal choices
23:03 // The narrowing of focus — from structural critique to personal story
28:12 // What the format does — harmonising contradiction rather than confronting it
31:02 // Screening Plastic China in the UK — what audiences actually felt
33:21 // Audience responses — moving, shocking, overwhelming
36:10 // What viewers said they would do next — individual action over structural change
38:02 // Political mimesis and its limits — affect that short-circuits critique
40:16 // Worrying about China — liberal frameworks and the problem of difference
43:14 // Conclusion — the compromises Chinese independent documentary makes to go global
Watch the Q&A session here: youtu.be/QJMOYmf0CmQ
This lecture will focus on independently produced Chinese documentary cinema as it has entered the Anglophone industry market. Using “Plastic China” by the award-winning director Wang Jiuliang as a case study, I will explore what the implications of cross-border collaborations are for documentary form and content, and how this may encourage a particular set of viewer responses. This will allow me to locate the documentary form in relation to broader liberal arguments over China’s place in the world system and assess the limitations of this approach to “going global” for independent Chinese documentary.
This lecture was recorded by Luke Robinson on the 27th of May 2026
Luke Robinson is a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Film Studies in the Faculty of Media, Arts, and Humanitiies, University of Sussex.
He is the author of Independent Chinese Documentary: From the Studio to the Street, and the co-editor of two further collections on Chinese film culture: (with Chris Berry) Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation and (with Chris Berry, Lydia Wu and Sabrina Yu) Chinese Independent Cinema: Past, Present, and a Questionable Future.
His writing has appeared in books and journals including DV-made China, The New Chinese Documentary Movement, Vocal Projections, Screening China’s Soft Power, positions: Asia cultures critique, Film Studies, Screen, and Journal of Chinese Cinemas.
Between 2019 and 2025 he was co-investigator on the AHRC-funded project, “Independent Cinema in China: State, Market, and Film Culture”. One of the outcomes of this grant was the establishment of the Chinese Independent Film Archive, located at Newcastle University.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/chinese-documentary
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
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0:00 // Introduction — Chinese independent documentary and the question of going global
3:28 // The Sundance-K'Nex workshops — training Chinese filmmakers for overseas markets
7:40 // Story as commodity — character-driven narrative and the three-act structure
10:07 // The humanitarian industrial logic — NGOs, storytelling and the Open Society Foundation
14:12 // Plastic China — the film, its subjects and its international success
16:01 // How the film works — two families, a child's right to education and formal choices
23:03 // The narrowing of focus — from structural critique to personal story
28:12 // What the format does — harmonising contradiction rather than confronting it
31:02 // Screening Plastic China in the UK — what audiences actually felt
33:21 // Audience responses — moving, shocking, overwhelming
36:10 // What viewers said they would do next — individual action over structural change
38:02 // Political mimesis and its limits — affect that short-circuits critique
40:16 // Worrying about China — liberal frameworks and the problem of difference
43:14 // Conclusion — the compromises Chinese independent documentary makes to go global
Watch the Q&A session here: youtu.be/QJMOYmf0CmQ
This lecture will focus on independently produced Chinese documentary cinema as it has entered the Anglophone industry market. Using “Plastic China” by the award-winning director Wang Jiuliang as a case study, I will explore what the implications of cross-border collaborations are for documentary form and content, and how this may encourage a particular set of viewer responses. This will allow me to locate the documentary form in relation to broader liberal arguments over China’s place in the world system and assess the limitations of this approach to “going global” for independent Chinese documentary.
This lecture was recorded by Luke Robinson on the 27th of May 2026
Luke Robinson is a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Film Studies in the Faculty of Media, Arts, and Humanitiies, University of Sussex.
He is the author of Independent Chinese Documentary: From the Studio to the Street, and the co-editor of two further collections on Chinese film culture: (with Chris Berry) Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation and (with Chris Berry, Lydia Wu and Sabrina Yu) Chinese Independent Cinema: Past, Present, and a Questionable Future.
His writing has appeared in books and journals including DV-made China, The New Chinese Documentary Movement, Vocal Projections, Screening China’s Soft Power, positions: Asia cultures critique, Film Studies, Screen, and Journal of Chinese Cinemas.
Between 2019 and 2025 he was co-investigator on the AHRC-funded project, “Independent Cinema in China: State, Market, and Film Culture”. One of the outcomes of this grant was the establishment of the Chinese Independent Film Archive, located at Newcastle University.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/chinese-documentary
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
Website: gresham.ac.uk
X: https://x.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: instagram.com/greshamcollege
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social
TikTok: tiktok.com/@greshamcollege
Support Us: gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
