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Asian Documentary Connections and “The International Film Festival Short Circuit”: Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) as a Case Study

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The Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema

Abstract

Intersecting both fields of film festival studies and transnational film studies, this chapter leverages the case study of the biennial Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF), the earliest documentary festival in Asia, to first trace back how the festival articulated Japanese documentarist Ogawa Shinsuke’s ideal in formulating a creative alliance among young generations of Asian filmmakers towards the region’s post-Cold War transition. Ma then looks at how the YIDFF, intertwined with the changing political economy of global and regional film festival scenes since the 1990s, has taken up Ogawa’s legacy and renewed efforts engaging an Inter-Asian film network. Arguably, the YIDFF proffers a festival model that challenges us to rethink the film festival network, its “short circuit,” and to perceive its scale-making and connective power in a new light.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Ran Ma

Authors
  1. Ran Ma
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Correspondence to Ran Ma .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park

  2. School of Humanities, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Gina Marchetti

  3. University of Macau, Macau, Singapore

    See Kam Tan

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Ma, R. (2018). Asian Documentary Connections and “The International Film Festival Short Circuit”: Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) as a Case Study. In: Magnan-Park, A., Marchetti, G., Tan, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95822-1_9

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