Finding Your Way Out of Chinatown: A Proposal to Reimagine Film Theory Education Curriculums Through a Post-colonial, Feminist and Anti-imperialist Lens

Abstract

The thesis’ ‘Finding Your Way Out of Chinatown: A Proposal to Reimagine Film Theory Education Curriculums Through a Post-Colonial, Feminist and Anti-Imperialist Lens’ consists of three main parts. An introduction to the concept in which I give a background to why such a proposal–mapping alternative non-Western women directors and their films to provide material to broaden film education–is needed and meaningful. Given the context of contemporary art/film education in Finland and the current frustrated pedagogical relationships that most educators have with teaching film, I seek to provide educators with resources to assist them in revising their curriculums in a way that is more in tune with the realities of our time. In the second part, which is the proposal itself, I first define the frameworks of the proposal and explain briefly why I have made the following choices in films, then I move on to the films, introducing and analysing them. The desired outcome for the students is to learn to adapt and produce their own critical understanding in relation to the film works discussed and screened. This is, of course, a common goal in film theory courses. However, as we witness in European art education institutions, the focus often is entirely on films directed, produced, and written by American or European white men, with an occasional Ozu or Kurosawa thrown into the mix. When this approach is questioned by students, the educators often let the “lack of resources” take the blame for their choices. The central focus of the thesis is on introducing five films, written and directed by women of color. I have also included lists of women filmmakers in countries in South West Asia and North Africa, South Asia, and East Asia and where one can find their films. The final part of the thesis is a detailed presentation of a project I worked on as the curator and producer called ‘Academy of Moving People & Images’. The project which is included here as the production part of my thesis is relevant here because it was an effort to actively resist issues such as lack of representation of marginalised voices in the film industry by providing an educational platform for participants, the majority of which are women from the aforementioned regions. Both the thesis and the project work towards the same goal of decolonising education, specifically in the field of art and cinema.