time to learn something!

Welcome to Kung Fu University of the Air. As I work on the introduction note for the poster exhibit at the Cinémathèque Québécoise, I came across this site for RMIT University inMelbourne, Australia that has recorded a key note lecture by Dr. Stephen Teo, the author of the valuable reference book on the history of Hong Kong cinema, Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions. The lecture is a bit more academic than what I usually prattle on about here, but is a fascinating discussion about what exactly is "Asian Cinema". You can watch it in an embedded flash player or it is also available as a MP3 download.

About the lecture

The lecture considers the question of Asian cinema and whether such an entity exists as a valid cinematic paradigm in comparative terms. Dr Teo explores the notion of a theory of Asian cinema arising from arguments of national cinema and Hollywood as fundamental practices of film theory. Can a theory of Asian cinema be self-sustaining? Or is Asian cinema basically a series of national cinemas that are too diverse to cohere, with each national cinema striving to transcend Asian-ness even as it seeks to incorporate a certain view of shared cultural values? The lecture examines questions of identity and transculturalism in relation to the proposed concepts of Asian cinema and Asian cinematic practices.

About Dr Stephen Teo

Dr Stephen Teo is a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and a senior associate of RMIT University. He is currently conducting research into Asian cinemas, and is the author of Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions (London: BFI, 1997), Wong Kar-wai (BFI, 2005), King Hu’s A Touch of Zen (Hong Kong University Press, 2007), and Director in Action: Johnnie To and the Hong Kong Action Film (HKU Press, 2007). He is now working on his next book, The Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition, to be published by the Edinburgh University Press.