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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ealac.columbia.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for 
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DTSTART:20260101T000000
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260304T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260304T220000
DTSTAMP:20261023T132729
CREATED:20260220T190810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T190810Z
UID:35613-1772647200-1772661600@ealac.columbia.edu
SUMMARY:“MoMentum: Mobilization & East Asian Documentary in Trans-Pacific Context”
DESCRIPTION:Focus is on social change in historical moments that resonate in the present from a comparative international perspective. Events set up dialogue across cultures around political questions: how documentary making was historically aligned with movements for independence\, agitation for change\, citizen revolt\, labor reform\, and immigrant struggle. Conference participants rethink the discourse around documentary non-fiction in widest circulation starting from the premise that documentary moving image-making developed worldwide in “times of crisis”: 1920s Soviet agit-prop in revolutionary Russia\, 1930s US Depression-era documentary\, pre and post-World War II Japan\, and post-Bandung Afro-Asian cinematic networks. But what about the new social justice crises we face and how are makers strategizing as a consequence? Finally\, why the “recourse” to documentary in mobilizing communities—then\, via the new technology of motion picture film—now\, via iphone video uploads? \nCo-sponsors:\nFilm and Media Studies\, School of the Arts\nC.V. Starr East Asian Library/Dragon Summit Culture Endowment Fund\nDean of Humanities\nDepartment of East Asian Languages and Cultures\nDonald Keene Center for Japanese Culture\nThe Harriman Institute: Russian\, Eurasian\, and Eastern European Studies\nIncite Institute/Columbia Center for the Study of Social Difference\nInstitute for Comparative Literature and Society\n“Sites of Cinema” University Seminars\nThe Society of Fellows & Heyman Center for the Humanities\nWeatherhead East Asian Institute \nPre-Conference Events: Columbia University Morningside Campus\nTuesday\, March 3\, 6-8 PM\nHeyman Center for the Humanities\n“Dziga Vertov: Cinema-Truth & Its Discontents: Prehistories and Afterlives\,” Julia Alekseyeva (University of Pennsylvania) \nRespondent: Tadas Bugnevicius (Columbia University) \nRegister \nWednesday\, March 4\, 6 PM\n403 Kent Hall\, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures\n“When ‘Camera as Gun’ is not a Metaphor: Violence in the Art & Life of Adachi Masao\,” Markus Nornes (University of Michigan) \nIntroduction: Takuya Tsunoda (Columbia University) \nRegister \nThursday\, March 5\nUniversity Seminars “Sites of Cinema”\nFaculty House\n6 PM Dinner \n7–9 PM “The Discontinuous Long Take in Contemporary World Cinema” (Chinese and Vietnamese)\, Jason McGrath (University of Minnesota) \nRespondent: Jiwei Xiao (University of Connecticut) \nTo request dinner reservations & receive a QR code for campus access\, email Leon Li: bl349@columbia.edu \nAll-Day Conference: Lenfest Center for the Arts\, Columbia University Manhattanville Campus\nFriday\, March 6\, 10 AM–10 PM\nThe Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room\, 2nd floor\, Lenfest Center for the Arts \nRegister for conference and screenings \n10–10:15 AM | Welcome\nSarah Cole\, Dean of the School of the Arts\, Columbia University \n10:15–11:15 AM | Panel #1: Internationalism and Solidarity\nModerator: Lydia Liu (Columbia University) \n\n“Historical Temporalities of Struggle: Workers International Relief. New York/Moscow/Tokyo\,” Jane Gaines (Columbia University)\n“Translating the ‘Bandung Spirit’: Beijing’s Asian Film Week\, 1957\,” Elliot Gong (Columbia University)\nTBA\, Markus Nornes (University of Michigan)\n\n11:15–11:30 AM | Discussion\n11:30 AM–12:30 PM | Panel #2: Radical Documentary: The Soviets & Vertov to Today\nModerator: Anastasia Kostina (Columbia University) \nPanelists: Jim Hoberman (Columbia University)\, Yilun Li (Columbia University)\, David Fresko (Rutgers University) \n12:30–12:45 PM | Discussion\n12:45–2 PM | Lunch \nThe Lantern\, 8th floor\, Lenfest Center for the Arts \n2–2:45 PM | Panel # 3:  The Politics of Chinese Documentary Today\nModerator: Charles Musser (Yale University) \n\n“Filming Chinese Working-Class Precarity: Yu Tuangyi’s Documentary Tetralogy\,” Feng Bao (Northeast Normal University)\n“Making Politicality Legible in Contemporary Chinese Documentary\,” Chi Wang (Sichuan Film and Television University)\n\n2:45–3 PM | Discussion\n3–3:20 PM | Still photography presentation \nFranz Prichard (Florida State University) \n3:20–5 PM | Roundtable #1: Connections & Communities: Documentary in East Asia and Beyond\nModerator: Takuya Tsunoda (Columbia University) \nRoundtable: Ying Qian (Columbia University)\, Jason McGrath (University of Minnesota)\, Akiyama Tamako (Kanagawa University/NYU)\, Markus Nornes (University of Michigan)\, Franz Prichard (Florida State University) \n5–5:15 PM | Discussion\n5:30–6:45 PM | Reception \nThe Lantern\, 8th floor\, Lenfest Center for the Arts \n7–8 PM | Screening: Chinese Diaspora Women Workers (38 min. total)\nIntroduction: Kaitlin Hao (Columbia University) \n\nSewing Woman (dir. Arthur Dong\, 1982)\, 14 min.\nBlue Sun Palace (dir. Constance Tsang\, 2024)\, 15 min. clip\nWork-in-progress documentary short about migrant massage workers (dir. Taylor Hom\, 2026)\, 24 min.\n\n8–9:30 PM | Roundtable #2: Organizing Around Labor and Immigration Issues\nModerator: Zhen Zhang (New York University) \nRoundtable: Kaitlin Hao (Columbia University)\, Constance Tsang (writer/director\, Blue Sun Palace\, 2024)\, Taylor Hom (director/producer\, work-in-progress\, 2026)\, and two massage workers \nTranslators: Mandarin & Korean \n9:30–10 PM | Discussion\n
URL:https://ealac.columbia.edu/event/momentum-mobilization-east-asian-documentary-in-trans-pacific-context/2026-03-04/
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