Randolph-Macon College’s Asian Studies Department will host Dr. Gina Marchetti, noted cinema expert and chair of the department of humanities and media studies at the Pratt Institute, as the keynote speaker for the annual J. Earl Moreland Lecture on Asia on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the SunTrust Theater in Brock Commons and is free and open to the public.

Marchetti is the author of Romance and the “Yellow Peril“: Race, Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (California, 1993), From Tian’anmen to Times Square: Transnational China and the Chinese Diaspora on Global Screens (Temple, 2006), The Chinese Diaspora on American Screens: Race, Sex, and Cinema (Temple, 2012), Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs—The Trilogy (HKUP, 2007), and Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema (Hawai’i, 2018). Her research and teaching interests encompass critical and cultural theory, world cinema, Asian and Asian American women filmmakers, and depictions of China and the Chinese diaspora on global screens.

Marchetti’s lecture, entitled “To Be Young on Chinese Screens: Gender, Generation, and Twenty-First Century Cinema” will focus on three aspects of young people’s lives depicted by transnational filmmakers. The first thematic thread explores the treacherous waters women filmmakers navigate as they embark on their careers. The second uncovers the role gender plays in political activism as seen in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella and 2019 Anti-ELAB demonstrations, Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement, as well as labor and environmental protests in mainland China. And the third theme focuses on youth in relation to rapidly changing Sino-American geopolitical relations as played out on commercial cinema screens. 

Leading up to the lecture, screenings of Yang Mingming’s Girls Always Happy (2018) as well as Ren Rex and Lam Sum’s May You Stay Young Forever (2021) will be offered. Both screenings are free and open to the public.

• Girls Always Happy: Friday, April 14, 2023, at 7 p.m. – SunTrust Theater in Brock Commons
• May You Stay Forever Young: Monday, April 17, 2023, at 7 p.m. – SunTrust Theater in Brock Commons

Each spring, the J. Earl Moreland Lecture on Asia brings a distinguished expert to the Randolph-Macon campus for a public lecture. The lecture was established through the generous donation of the late Dr. Lik Kiu Ding ’49 to commemorate J. Earl Moreland, president of Randolph-Macon College from 1939 to 1967. The purpose is to create greater student understanding and interest in Asian affairs by connecting students directly with distinguished scholars and prominent professionals. Previous Moreland guest lecturers include Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers and finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Fiction; Associate Professor of Asian Architecture at the University of Virginia; Pamela Tom, director of the documentary film Tyrus; and Michael Dylan Foster, renowned folklorist and author.