Film Forum

Founded in New York City in 1926 by American educators John Dewey, Paul Monroe, and Chinese diplomats Hu Shi (胡適) and Kuo Ping-Wen (郭秉文), China Institute is an internationally-renowned U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to deepening the world’s understanding of China through programs in business, art, culture, cuisine, and education. For 97 years, China Institute has reached nearly a million people, providing them with the tools to better understand the complexity and dynamism that is China. The Institute is a leader in providing the insight, knowledge, and context about China that goes beyond the headlines. For more information, please visit chinainstitute.org.

Karen Ma is the author of China’s Millennial Digital Generation, Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers, published in June 2022 by Long River Press. A film scholar and movie critic specializing in Chinese cinema, she taught Chinese culture and film courses at The Beijing Center of Chinese Studies in China before relocating to the US in 2017. Ma has a bachelor’s degree from Tokyo’s Sophia University and an M.A. in Chinese literature from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is also the author of Excess Baggage (China Books, 2013), a novel about a Chinese family’s struggle to make its way in Tokyo. She has been teaching Chinese film and language courses at China Institute since the fall of 2021, and has frequently served as a moderator at events related to Chinese cinema.

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