Desta Kyi and the Question of Collective Emotional Labour: Who Sustains Visibility in Chinese Film Festival
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Wen Gu
Wen Gu is a PhD candidate at Mahidol University and lectures at Shanghai Gench University. She formerly taught at Shanghai Vancouver Film School and was a visiting scholar at Taipei National University of the Arts. Wen holds an MA in Academy of Art University, San Francisco and a BA in Shanghai Theatre Academy. Active in theatre and Chinese-language film, she works as a scriptwriter and producer; in 2024 she judged the WIP session at the Chinese Golden Rooster Film Festival.
Abstract
This paper examines Tibetan female filmmaker Desta Kyi’s navigation of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festivals to show how emotional and affective labour function as essential strategies for marginalized filmmakers to secure visibility within Han-centric, male-dominated Chinese film industries. Drawing on affect theory and post-authorship frameworks, the study distinguishes macro-level affective labour – the circulation of feeling and “buzz” across festival networks – from micro-level emotional labour – the embodied regulation of affect in interpersonal interactions. Using a semi-autobiographical ethnography (2021–2025) combining interviews, participant observation, and reflexive co-production, the analysis centers on Kyi’s relational work with key supporters (Andy Lau, Jiaran Wang, Dan Wang) and the author’s role as co-producer. Findings demonstrate that visibility, access, and cultural legitimacy are produced not only through artistic output but through sustained, gendered, and often invisible emotional investments that operate as relational capital. The case reveals emotional labour as both vulnerability and strategic agency, reframing festivals as affective infrastructures where power is reproduced and contested. By foregrounding gendered and ethnic dimensions of labour, this paper extends post-authorship debates in the Chinese context and suggests new directions for understanding how marginalized filmmakers assert presence beyond authorship alone.
About the author
Wen Gu is a PhD candidate at Mahidol University and lectures at Shanghai Gench University. She formerly taught at Shanghai Vancouver Film School and was a visiting scholar at Taipei National University of the Arts. Wen holds an MA in Academy of Art University, San Francisco and a BA in Shanghai Theatre Academy. Active in theatre and Chinese-language film, she works as a scriptwriter and producer; in 2024 she judged the WIP session at the Chinese Golden Rooster Film Festival.
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© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Realistic Mirror, Public Discourse, and Temporal Markers: Chinese Cinema in 2024
- 2024 Analysis Report on Chinese Film Industry Development
- Chinese Civilizational Symbols and the Artistic Practice of Chinese Western Films
- Chinese Mythology and the Reconstruction of Contemporary Chinese Film Aesthetics
- Asian American Exportation: “Chineseness” and Representation in Sino-US Animated Co-Venture Films
- Local Culture and National Identity: The Conflict and Convergence of Mandarin Films and Cantonese Films in Nanyang in the 1930s
- Desta Kyi and the Question of Collective Emotional Labour: Who Sustains Visibility in Chinese Film Festival
- Chinese Dubbed Film Fans and “Iconic Voices”: Bridging Global and Local Identities Through Voice Actors, 1950s–1980s
- Film Reviews
- Contemporary Reinterpretation of Mythology and National Aesthetics in Cinematic Imagery: A Case Study of Ne Zha 2
- New Explorations in War Film Creation: Reflections on The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death
- Corrigendum
- Corrigendum to: 48 articles published in JCFS from Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2021) – Vol. 4, Issue 1 (2024)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Realistic Mirror, Public Discourse, and Temporal Markers: Chinese Cinema in 2024
- 2024 Analysis Report on Chinese Film Industry Development
- Chinese Civilizational Symbols and the Artistic Practice of Chinese Western Films
- Chinese Mythology and the Reconstruction of Contemporary Chinese Film Aesthetics
- Asian American Exportation: “Chineseness” and Representation in Sino-US Animated Co-Venture Films
- Local Culture and National Identity: The Conflict and Convergence of Mandarin Films and Cantonese Films in Nanyang in the 1930s
- Desta Kyi and the Question of Collective Emotional Labour: Who Sustains Visibility in Chinese Film Festival
- Chinese Dubbed Film Fans and “Iconic Voices”: Bridging Global and Local Identities Through Voice Actors, 1950s–1980s
- Film Reviews
- Contemporary Reinterpretation of Mythology and National Aesthetics in Cinematic Imagery: A Case Study of Ne Zha 2
- New Explorations in War Film Creation: Reflections on The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death
- Corrigendum
- Corrigendum to: 48 articles published in JCFS from Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2021) – Vol. 4, Issue 1 (2024)
