As a film director, poet, writer and theorist, artist Zheng Minghe has always been sceptical of the academic term 'discipline' and has used film to discuss and explore the boundaries of different genres and disciplines. After experimenting with documentary, science fiction, experimental and educational films, although she herself does not think of film in terms of categories, documentary has become a particularly interesting object to explore in her long-term artistic practice. Initially not considered a documentary by the documentary community, her films are now often labelled as 'documentary', while at the same time she is considered to have made an 'anti-documentary' practice.
Beginning with her first film Reorganisation (1982), Zheng separated sound from image and shot in a 'near-speech' style, allowing the filmmaker, the subject and the viewer to come and go as they pleased; later, Life is Round (1985) challenged the conventions of filmmaking with its non-linear structure; and Viet Nam ( (1989) is a masterpiece of the reflexive documentary, which also reveals and reflects on the fictional nature of the documentary. So, does "near-speech" mean complete objectivity? Is there a true and pure truth?
In this film review session, we have invited Professor Nie Xinru, a renowned expert in documentary film in China, to present the video work "What about China? (18:00-20:15), he will discuss the fundamental issues surrounding Zheng Minghe's "What About China" and some other works. The title of the review is a reference to the topic of "documentary margins", which means that the review is an "adventure" into the wilderness: the speaker will use Zheng Minghe's work as a guide, and then refer to the work of Luc Besson The speaker will use the work of Zheng Minghe as a guide, then refer to the work of Luc Besson and others, and take the audience on a journey into the genre and aesthetic theory of the documentary. As we move between theory and practice, and as we explore the nature and development of documentary film in the light of Zheng Minghe's work, the speakers will also discuss: does the existence of documentary images mean that there is a documentary? Who narrates the first-person narrative, the director? Why has Jung Myung-Ha's work attracted such strong attention in China? ...... is looking forward to bringing the audience a "darker" and more enlightened view of documentary film.
作为一位电影导演、诗人、作家和理论家，艺术家郑明河一直对学术界里的“学科”这个说法抱有疑虑，并通过电影来讨论和探索不同体裁、不同学科的边界。在尝试了纪录片、科幻电影、实验电影、教育类电影等不同类型的影片后，虽然她本人也并不按照分类去考虑电影，但是纪录片成为了她长期的艺术实践中尤为值得探讨的对象。最初记录片界不认为她的电影是记录片，而现在她的电影又常被贴上“记录片”的标签，同时，她又被认为是做出了“反纪录片”的实践。
从第一部《重组》（1982）开始，郑明河就把声音与影像剥离开来，并用“近旁言说”的方式拍摄，让拍摄者、被拍摄者和观众来去自由；而后，《生活是圆的》（1985）以非线性的结构挑战了电影制作的传统；而《姓越名南》（1989）对真实与虚构、实时记录与表演再现的关系进行了巧妙处理，成为反身型纪录片的代表作，还揭示和反思了纪录片包含的虚构性。那么，“近旁言说”就意味着彻底客观吗？真正纯粹的真实与真相又是否存在呢？
本次影评会中，我们请到了国内纪录片届的知名专家聂欣如教授，在影像作品《中华何如？》（18：00-20：15）的呈现之后，他将围绕郑明河的《中华何如》和其他一些作品，展开有关纪录片基本问题的讨论。影评会的标题点明了“纪录片边缘”这个话题，也就意味着本次影评会是一场走入蛮荒地带的“探险”：讲者将以郑明河的作品作为引领，继而参照吕克•贝松和其他一些人的相关作品，带着大家把握方向、逐步深入到纪录片的类型和美学理论的层面。在理论与实践中游走之时，当对纪录片本质与发展进行探讨而与郑明河的创作互相映照之际，讲者还将讨论：是否有了纪实的影像便等于是有了纪录片？第一人称叙事究竟是谁在叙事，是导演吗？为什么郑明河的作品能够在国内引起强烈的关注？……影评会期待为观众带来一场“柳暗花明”的快意恍悟，打开有关纪录片更为开阔的视野。
