Home | List of Participants | Schedule

East Goes West - Chinese Filmmakers in the United States

Like many successful filmmakers from Greater China, King Hu was drawn to the United States. He spent much of the last years of his life in the United States working on several film projects. None of his projects made it beyond pre-production and he died without realizing his dream to produce an American film.

Other Chinese filmmakers such as John Woo, Tsui Hark, Wong Kar Wai, Joan Chen, Chen Kaige and others completed films in the United States, however, with rather mixed success and they were unable to establish a sustained career in Hollywood. On the other hand, filmmakers such as Wayne Wang, Ang Lee, and Justin Lin, who went to film schools in the United States and started their careers there, have had comparatively successful careers in the American film industry.

Starting with an exploration of King Hu’s unfinished projects, this conference will research and discuss opportunities and challenges of Chinese filmmakers who crossed the Pacific to make films in the United States. How does the move to Hollywood impact their filmmaking? We will discuss both conditions of film production as well as aesthetic questions and how they are related.

When and Where
The Hong Kong University, Run Run Shaw Tower, Room 4.36, Hong Kong, 30-31 May, 2015.

Session Format
The colloquium will consist of one-hour sessions during which participants will discuss their essays in progress with the group. Colloquium participants will be asked to submit a draft of their papers in English no later than 26 May 2015 (to tgruene@hku.hk). The essays will be electronically distributed to fellow participants before the colloquium convenes.

Publication
We intend to publish the colloquium proceedings. Contributors will be asked to submit their final essays for purposes of publication by 1 December 2015.

Poster
http://www.amstudy.hku.hk/news/filmmakers2015/images/20150530.pdf

Contact
Please correspond with Tim Gruenewald at tgruene@hku.hk or George Wang at wangch@hawaii.edu
For details about public transportation to HKU and hotels, please contact Lucilla Cheng at luci@hku.hk

This conference is generously supported by: