Neuigkeiten am Institut
Ankündigung: HS/OS Chinese Silent Cinema
Humboldt Research Award recipient Prof. Paul G. Pickowicz will be affiliated to the HCTS in 2016. Next semester he will offer an innovative seminar titled 
Chinese Silent Cinema, 1920-1935 co-taught by Liying Sun, lecturer at the Institute of Chinese studies.
Prof. Paul G. Pickowicz is a world leader in the field of Modern Chinese History. He has published 16 books (as author, coauthor, and coeditor) and more than 50 articles, all of which fall under the broad heading of interdisciplinary Chinese Studies, with particular focus on the social and cultural history of 20th century China.
Prof. Pickowicz has pioneered several important areas of research, one of them being the history of Chinese film. In 1982-83, he was the first foreign scholar allowed access to the Film Archive of China in Beijing. His research on Chinese film and visual culture, including interviews with legendary filmmakers of the 1930s and 1940s, has resulted in many groundbreaking books including China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation and Controversy, New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012; Exhibiting Chinese Cinemas, Reconstructing Reception, Special Issue of Journal of Chinese Cinemas, vol. 3, no. 2, 2009 (Co-edited with Matthew Johnson); and From Underground to Independent: Alternative Film Culture in Contemporary China, New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2006 (Co-edited with Yingjin Zhang). A leader in researching the still poorly understood early origins of Chinese feature filmmaking in the 1920s and 1930s, Pickowicz is established today as one of the world’s premiere authorities in the dynamic field of Chinese film history from its beginnings to the present day.
Prof. Pickowicz recently received the prestigious Humboldt Research Award for 2016, and he will be affiliated to the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS). During his stay, he will be offering an innovative seminar titled “HS/OS modern: Chinese Silent Cinema 1920-1935” (LSF: 0733161HOS02, Room KJC212), co-taught with Liying Sun, lecturer at the Institute of Chinese studies. This unique, experimental, multi-disciplinary course is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It closely examines the history of China in the 1920s and 1930s by making use of visual sources. More specifically, students view and discuss a rare collection of Chinese feature films made in Shanghai during the Golden Age of Chinese silent film production. The goal is to better understand the various social, cultural, political, and economic problems facing China in the 1920s and 1930s by considering how these issues are represented by the booming Chinese film industry. In order to better understand the subtleties of this type of film representation, students will be organized into groups of 7-10 students each with each group responsible for making a 20 minute Chinese film of its own. The student films should resonates with the themes and aesthetics of silent era Chinese cinema. The student films will be screened at a joyous mock Oscar event called the Golden Chopsticks Film Gala. A panel of faculty judges will determine winners in various categories including best actress, best cinematography, best director, and best film.
Prof. Pickowicz’s innovative course has received unprecedented amounts of attention. It is highly experimental and has been featured twice (2008 and 2012) in the UC San Diego Alumni Magazine. He was invited twice to offer it (in Chinese) in China — once in Shanghai (2010) and once in Beijing (2012). In fall 2014 he also offered it in Edinburgh in Scotland, where it involved faculty, postgraduate students and undergraduate students and was immediately nominated for a teaching award.
For the details of the course, please check LSF. For the students who are interested in the course, please pre-register with Liying Sun <liying.sun@zo.uni-heidelberg.de> by March 31st.
