Clip Bites: Learn Mandarin Slangs from Chinese Independent Cinema

More than a passive screening or a drilling language lesson, this program functions as an interactive “language lab” for intermediate Mandarin learners and film buffs. Inspired by the made-up language-learning method in the film "A Travelers' Needs" by Hong Sang-soo,  you will learn conversational phrases, lyrics, and cultural slangs from film clips made by Chinese independent filmmakers within the last 30 years.

These films are diverse in forms and themes, made during times of hyper urbanization progress in China. The language used in them reveals generational issues, regional differences, humor, and poetics spoken by everyday people, it is a living and evolving language in a rapidly changing Chinese society.

Structured around the framework of the Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), with an additional wind element as the throughline that transitions between each element. If you need to brush up on conversational Mandarin, or simply, come with a beginner's mind, the select film excerpts show how language evolves alongside cultural shifts and lived experience, especially within the dynamic and experimental Chinese independent cinema.

Clip Bites: Learn Mandarin Slangs from Chinese Independent Cinema, curated by Xiaolu Wang, a filmmaker with her mother tongue in Chinese.