Book Talk
East Asian Auteurism, Cinephilia and the Media Platform Era: Film Authorship Rethought
by Dr. Dorothy W.S. Lau
Date: Tuesday, 27 January, 2026
Time: 15:30-17:00 (PST) | 18:30-20:00 (EST)
Virtual event via Zoom. In English
In this book talk, author Dr. Dorothy W.S. Lau (Hong Kong Baptist University) will examine how the platform-driven cinephilic engagement evokes a new imaginary of auteurs in East Asian cinema.
While East Asian filmmakers continue to provide world screens with vibrant and innovative works in recent years, their names and visions have been intensely scrutinised and renegotiated by global cinephiles on digital media platforms such as Facebook, Letterboxd, MUBI, X, and Bilibili.
The novel cinephilic experiences potentially problematises the authorial intent and structure legitimised by the traditional cinema, thus, challenging what film authorship means.
All are welcome. Registration required.
About the Speaker
Dr. Dorothy Wai Sim Lau is an Associate Professor at the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University.
Her research interests include stardom, celebrity, fandom, Hong Kong cinema, Asian cinema, platform culture, and screen culture.
She is the author of Chinese Stardom in Participatory Cyberculture (2019), Reorienting Chinese Stars in Global Polyphonic Networks: Voice, Ethnicity, Power (2021), Celebrity Activism and Philanthropy in Asia: Toward A Cosmopolitical Imaginary (2024), and East Asian Auteurism, Cinephilia and the Media Platform Era: Film Authorship Rethought (2025).
She is now writing her fifth monograph, The Discourse of Ageing in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema: The Silvering Entanglement (under contract of Edinburgh University Press).
Lau is the visiting scholar to the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield in 2022.