Robinson Professors

Carma Hinton

Carma Hinton was born in Beijing and lived there until she was twenty-one. Chinese is her first language and culture. Together with Richard Gordon, Hinton has directed thirteen documentary films about China, including The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Small Happiness, First Moon, All Under Heaven, Abode of Illusion, and Morning Sun.

Hinton is a scholar as well as a filmmaker. She has a Ph.D. in Art History from Harvard University and has held teaching positions at Swarthmore, Wellesley, Northeastern, and MIT. In addition, she has lectured widely on Chinese culture, history, and film at educational institutions both in the United States and around the world.

Her films have been shown in numerous film festivals worldwide, including New York, Berlin, Hong Kong, Vancouver, and San Francisco. They have also been screened at the Film Forum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, among others, and broadcast on television stations around the world, including PBS, the BBC, and ARTE. Awards received include two George Foster Peabody Awards, the American Historical Association's John E. O'Connor Film Award, the International Critics Prize and the Best Social and Political Documentary at the Banff Television Festival, and nominations for Best Documentary Feature by the National Film Board of Canada, the ABCNEWS VideoSource and Pare Lorentz Awards by the International Documentary Association, and a National News & Documentary Emmy Award.

Fall Courses 2009

ARTH 384: Arts of China

Explores the complex and dynamic history of China by examining ways in which social, religious, and political shifts have given rise to new and variant forms of material culture. (W 4:30-7:10 p.m.)

CHIN 320: Introduction to Chinese Cinema

This course is an introduction to Chinese cinema from the 1930s to the present, focusing on feature films made in Mainland China. The study of Chinese film is a relatively new field in international film scholarship, and the range of choices for a course such as this one is limited by the availability of English-subtitled films as well as by English language writings on the subject. Within these constraints, this course will provide a broad historical overview of 20th century Chinese cinema, combined with in-depth exploration of selected topics, focusing on issues of national, cultural, and gender identities, the relationship between art and politics, and cross-cultural communication. Considerable emphasis will be given to the so-called Fifth Generation filmmakers, whose works constitute a key turning point in Chinese cinematic history. Course is taught in English. Also listed as ARTH 303 and FAVS 399. (W 7:20-10:00 p.m.)

Spring Courses 2010

FAVS 399: U.S. Documentaries on China

Renowned China scholar Derk Bodde once observed, “Throughout history, China, to an unusual degree, seems to have been capable of inspiring either ardent admiration or intense antipathy.” Film and television have great power to magnify such sentiments. Today the average American’s perceptions of China are influenced far more by his or her exposure to television than by reading. Hours before the TV set, however, do not automatically produce “media literacy,” as this viewing is usually a passive, absorbent, non-analytical experience. This course will study American documentary films about China dating from the 1940s to the present. Through film viewing and discussion, supplemented by readings of historical writings as well as film theory and criticism, the course will explore how images of China on the American screen have changed over time, and how these changes, or at times drastic reversal, have mirrored broader historical currents in US-China relations. A number of films will be analyzed in detail to expose students to basic elements of documentary filmmaking. Course is taught in English. Also listed as HIST 393. (T 7:20-10:00 p.m.)

ARTH 482/599: Monuments and Memories in Asian Art

Waiting on course description.
(T 4:30-7:10 p.m.)