CeMEAS Conversations: Fan Popo

CeMEAS Conversations: Fan Popo

Voices of Struggle: LGBTQ and Feminist Activism in China and Beyond

We are excited to present Fan Popo as part of our CeMEAS Conversations.

 

Our video series “Voices of Struggle: LGBTQ and Feminist Activism in China and Beyond” was filmed on the sidelines of a symposium of the same name held at the University of Göttingen on 17 April 2018. In our conversations with four of the participants (Hongwei Bao, Maizi Li, Popo Fan, Harriet Evans) we explore the complex entanglements between activism and academia in transnational perspective. What does it mean to be an engaged or activist scholar today? How should we think about the connections/separations between the two spheres of activism and academia? And how can activists and academics best combine their strengths to effect change? In what ways are deepening transnational connections re-shaping the practice of activism around the globe? Our two day event brought together leading scholars and activists to discuss these questions in relation to the development of feminism and LGBTQ activism in China and beyond.

Short Bio of Fan Popo:

Fan Popo (范坡坡) is an activist and filmmaker currently based in Berlin. He has made many documentaries on LGBT/gender issues in China including New Beijing New Marriage, Be a Woman, Chinese Closet, Mama Rainbow, The VaChina Monologues, Papa Rainbow.
Of late he has moved into fictional/experimental films. He has been a committee member of Beijing Queer Film Festival since 2007, and he also organized the China Queer Film Festival Tour. In 2015, he sued the government for banning his film Mama Rainbow after more than one million hits online. It was a landmark event for freedom of speech in China and was covered by many domestic and international news outlets.

CeMEAS Conversation Editors: Sarah Eaton & Katja Pessl