Re- imagining the Past: Contemporary Chinese Documentary and the Reuse of Archive Material

The form of documentary filmmaking after the 1990s has undergone profound changes. The narrative forms proposed by Chinese documentary filmmakers have unearthed themes, characters, and instances that have counterbalanced the fictional films produced under the aegis of the government (Qi Wang 2014). Starting from the digital memory studies by Astrid Erll we want to analyze how different narrative modes affects the practice of memory. Particular attention will be paid to the use of found footage: how does the use of archival material affect the narrative of memory? Do the authors aim for a creative reuse of archival material or do they use it in a traditional way? If we assume that the film medium is dynamic, how does memory vary within dynamism? The role of the media today is crucial to the re-creation of memory, the article aims to highlight how alongside the places of memory, where memory becomes fixed, the dynamism of the media makes it regenerate.