In search of a ‘cinematic Esperanto’: exhibiting wartime Chongqing cinema in global context

Abstract

This essay examines the neglected wartime Chongqing cinema by situating it in its local and simultaneously global context of exhibition. Instead of reinforcing the image of Chongqing cinema as sheer state propaganda, I illustrate the film-makers' and the film critics' heightened awareness of multiple contexts of exhibition. I propose to consider this wartime cinema as a search for the ‘cinematic Esperanto’, an aspiration toward a world cinema and an international film language that contested the universal language of the Hollywood continuity system so as to bridge film aesthetics and audience responses to register the atrocity of the war and evoke corporeal public responses. By examining the critical interaction between film exhibition, film criticism, and film production, I hope to bring to recognition wartime Chongqing cinema as a highly self-conscious and active participant in an international film culture.