Research Projects

Hong Kong Independent Cinema: Collecting, Archiving and Exhibiting (2025-26)

This British Film Institute (BFI)-funded project was led by Professor Sabrina Qiong Yu. It enriches the Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA) via independent films by Hong Kong filmmakers.

This intention is to also curate a Hong Kong Independent Film UK Tour. These screenings will showcase selected works from the new collection, with a focus on the migrant experience.

The tour will take place across five cities:

Newcastle
Manchester
Sheffield
London
Edinburgh

The aim of this project is to engage diverse local audiences and broaden the archive’s user base.

Independent Cinema in China: State, Market and Film Culture (2019-2024)

This project was funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It was also led by Principal Investigator Professor Sabrina Qiong Yu.

It explores how relationships with state and market shape Chinese independent cinema. We focus on various aspects, from production and circulation to reception.

This was achieved by working in collaboration with:

independent filmmakers
curators
scholars

The project has produced a wide range of outcomes, including

an anthology
a new academic journal
journal articles
book chapters
a bilingual website
an online film database
a UK film tour
academic conferences and symposia
workshops
film screenings
art exhibitions

This project also led to the establishment of CIFA, which is located in Room 2.23 of the Old Library Building.

Ageing, Care and (In)visibility: The Forgotten Photography of Martine Franck (2022-2023)

This project is funded by The Leverhulme Trust. It analyses the study of ageing by documentary and portrait photographer, Martine Franck (1938-2012). We understand this Franck's study as an unrecognised landmark for Age Studies.

Her work provides insight into the lives, identities and environment of older people across cultures. This project highlights the ways these photographs anticipate the development of cultural gerontology.

We utilise an original framework, which combines:

care theory
visual analysis
feminist philosophy

The project sets Franck’s contribution in historical and cultural context by:

analysing her monographs and exhibitions
revealing her connections with philosopher of ageing, Simone de Beauvoir
interpreting her practice as a form of care

Urban Resonances

This project is funded by the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). This funding exists as part of its official development assistance (ODA) funding.

The project captures the emotional geographies of Marrakech, and medieval Médina, after the earthquake of 2023.

This community-based, artistic, participatory project fosters:

international collaboration across the cultural and creative industries
academic focus on the role of comics and multimodal creative practice in apprehending urban life
a vision of a more socially and environmentally just urban future

Eyes on Murakami

Eyes on Murakami is an AHRC-funded project. It is based on Japanese author, Murakami Haruki.

This project was led by Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen, in partnership with a diverse group of collaborators from around the world. Each collaborator contributed from their respective perspectives on contemporary Japanese culture.

Through a number of publications and events that took place in early March 2018, the project examines the literary worlds of Murakami. This includes:

the gendering of his characters
the processes of translation
trans-medial production

Wars and Constitutions in the Making of Chile and Argentina, 1819-1853

This Leverhulme Trust funded fellowship took place between 2021 and 2024.

After the fall of European rule in Latin America, the continent underwent a process of political reorganisation. This was marked by a number of constitutions embodying national ideas and territorial ambitions.

While most nations struggled with instability, Chile and Argentina consolidated power and expanded. This project investigates how their constitutions centralised power during frontier wars. It also reveals law and violence as twin engines of state-building.

This study examines taxation, debt and army clauses – practical tools underpinning state survival. In an era when 90% of budgets funded war, these provisions were existential, not abstract.

The resulting research demonstrates how constitutions became critical instruments for waging war. The project decodes infrastructural power through constitutional clauses. A wide variety of primary sources were also examined. These sources were collected from more than 10 archives – from Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, to Germany and the UK.

An animated short film – Divine Winds of South America: The Paths of Law in Chile and Argentina, 1762-1866 – was also developed. This film was presented at an international conference on visual culture, history and law.