Huang Baomei (1958, dir. Xie Jin) is a narrative film based on the real-life experiences of the national model worker Huang Baomei and was shot on location at the Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Mill. As an example of the “artistic documentary” genre in socialist cinema, it is well known for casting actual workers from the mill to play themselves, except for a professional actress playing a screenwriter who visits the factory to interview Huang and experience life on the shop floor. Produced during a formative period in socialist China's industrial development, the film offers insight into how labor, gender, and ideology were represented on screen at the time. Huang Baomei served as a key reference for artist Ho Rui An during the research and development of his new film, The World of Lines (commissioned by and on view at the ICA at NYU Shanghai).
Following the screening, NYU Shanghai Assistant Professor of Interactive Media Arts CHEN Junnan will lead a discussion on the performance and representation of gender in socialist worker films. The conversation will explore how cinema depicted the public and private lives of workers both inside and outside the factory, as well as the evolving figure of the “model worker” across different periods of socialist cultural production. To further enrich this discussion, excerpts from other historical worker films will also be presented, prompting reflection on shifting portrayals of labor across temporal and regional contexts.
The film is in Chinese with English and Chinese subtitles; while the post-screening discussion will be held in English.
Light refreshments will be provided before the screening.
Open to the NYU Shanghai community only. Space is limited. Registration is required.
English subtitles provided by Feifan Li, Crystal Wang, Miao Wang, Nicole Liu, and Jingchen Xiao, supervised by Lilian Kong and Paola Iovene, with generous support from the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago.
In conjunction with Chronologies, an exhibition by Ho Rui An and co-curated by Zian Chen.
The exhibition Chronologies and related events are presented as the third season of the ICA's artistic research program Lightless Fires (2024–26), exploring fermentation as a figure and technique of collective memory, autonomous archiving, and writing history.
