Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies research seminar series (Spring 2020)
Reconfiguring Chinese Independent Documentary in a Global Context
Public lecture and screening of The Two Lives of Ermao (2019)
Speaker: Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu (Queen Mary University of London)
About the film:
Filmed over 17 years across Southern China, the film is the intimate and heart-wrenching story of Li Ermao, a transgender migrant worker, who performs in performs in clubs looking for love and acceptance. Living as a “ladyboy” with her boyfriend she faces repeated encounters of prejudice and aggression with equal measures of resilience and vulnerability. The story follows many dramatic twists and surprising turns in Ermao’s search for identity, struggle for love, and fight for survival.
The film screening is preceded by a talk and followed by a Q and A with producer Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu.
More information about the film:
The Two Lives of Li Ermao (dir. Jiayuchuan, 2019, 87 min., Chinese with English subtitle)
Read more about this event.
About the speaker:
Dr. Kiki Tianqi Yu is a filmmaker, scholar and curator. She’s currently Lecturer in Film at Queen Mary University of London. Her research and practices focus on documentary and nonfiction film (especially on first person expression and amateur cinema), Chinese cinema, cinema and Eastern philosophies, women’s cinema in East Asia, and independent cinema. Her publications include ‘My’ Self on Camera: First Person Documentary Practice in an Individualising China (2019), China’s iGeneration: Cinema and Moving Image Culture for 21st Century (2014). Her films include the award-winning documentary films China’s van Goghs(2016), Photographing Shenzhen (2006) and essay film Memory of Home(2009). She curated “Polyphonic China” - the first UK screening of Chinese independent documentary series in London 2008-2009, “New Generation Chinese Film” in London 2010, and Memory Talks - series of personal documentaries in Shanghai 2017.