By The Catalyst Editorial Board.
Our team organized an interview with Xiying Xu, who is currently living in Waterloo, to talk about her article “Butterfly (2004) and Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Collective Movements” which will be featured in the Spring 2019 edition of Chrysalis. In her article, she compares the movie Butterfly to Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy movements.
Xiying recently graduated from McGill’s English undergraduate program with a focus on Cultural Studies from Beijing. Her aunt who had completed her Master’s degree at McGill in the 1990s encouraged her to study here. Xiying is particularly interested in Asian film and media culture, documentary film theory as well as avant-garde film aesthetics. She had the opportunity to intern in the filed of film and media in China, where she deepened her knowledge about Asian filmmaking and production.
After deciding to go on an exchange in Hong Kong for a full year, Xiying realized the complexity of political struggles in Hong Kong. She chose to write about Butterfly and present the ways in which the movie presented pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong. Bringing more attention to Hong Kong’s history and politics motivated Xiying to publish her article. She remains hopeful for a future where social movements will be free to protest.
Now that she has graduated from McGill, Xiying works as a freelance Chinese screenwriter and as a Media Coordinator for the Canada China International Film Festival. In the fall, she will begin her Master’s in Visual Culture Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
You can find Xiying’s article here.
