DGenerate Films

dGenerate Films

Type	Private company
Founder	Karin Chien
Headquarters	Brooklyn, New York
Products	Film distribution, international co-production
Website	dGenerateFilms.com

dGenerate Films is a non-theatrical distributor of award-winning independent films from China. Their aim is to bring more images of contemporary life in mainland China to U.S. audiences.^[1] The company was launched in 2008 by American independent film veterans, including producer Karin Chien.^[2] dGenerate Films has the international rights to nearly forty independent Chinese films, and they distribute them abroad mostly to educational institutions and festivals, though they also are available to a general audience. Many of them are smuggled illegally out of China, where the uncensored films are considered to be counter-government.^[3]

Examples of releases include:

• 1408, a documentary on the effects of the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake on the lives of rural people near the epicenter
• Betelnut, a narrative following the love, work, and aimless pursuits of 21st century teenagers in a sleepy riverside city in rural China
• Disorder, a documentary featuring chaotic, humorous and provocative found video images of life in China's booming cities
• Dong, a documentary following artist Liu Xiaodong as he paints workers demolishing an ancient town in advance of the new Three Gorges Dam
• Fujian Blue, a narrative film on the lives of young men, aspiring small-time hoods, in a fast-paced corner of coastal China
• Ghost Town, a documentary tracing the lives of a Christian community in decline in a remote corner of southwestern China
• In Search of Lin Zhao's Soul, a documentary on the legacy of Lin Zhao, a young woman rebel who died in the 1960s Cultural Revolution
• Little Moth, a narrative film about a young girl who is forced by her adoptive parents to beg for money on the streets
• Karamay, a documentary of personal testimonies on a mysterious 1994 fire that resulted in the death of Uighur people in Xinjiang Province
• Meishi Street, a documentary following the demolishing of an ordinary neighborhood in Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Olympics
• The Other Half, a narrative in which a young woman tries to escape a destructive lover and the toxic natural environment of her city
• Oxhide, a narrative in which filmmaker Liu Jiayin presents an intimate, funny, fictionalized portrait of her working class Beijing family
• Queer China Comrade China, a documentary about the history of gay rights and the place of homosexuality in modern Chinese culture
• San Yuan Li, a documentary tracing a traditional village which has been surrounded by the postmodern megalopolis of Guangzhou
• Struggle, a documentary focused on workers who suffered severe injuries in a high tech factory manufacturing products for western export
• Using, a documentary showing the troubled relations between a drug addict, his girlfriend, and the filmmaker eager to expose their lives
• When the Bough Breaks, a documentary on a Beijing family suffering hard times, whose children take responsibility to support each other

References

1. NPR. "Exit the Dragon: New Views of China." http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2008/05/exit_the_dragon_new_views_of_c_1.html
2. dGenerate Films. "About" http://dgeneratefilms.com/about/
3. Rohter, Larry (February 17, 2011). "Indie Films From a Land Short on Independence". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2011.

External links and further reading

• Hand Held Camera: China's independent film scene by Christen Cornell at Artspace China, 28 September 2010