About
About
Daoism, cinema and wellbeing:
Meditative Cinema
The Project
The interdisciplinary project “Daoism, cinema and wellbeing: Meditative Cinema” shifts the debates on ecology, cinema and wellbeing through the lens of Daoist philosophy, decolonizing Western-centric paradigms in film theory and philosophy.
It systematically engages an ancient, vital yet living non-Western thought, Daoism, with cinema to renew our understanding of cinema and moving image art; and brings Daoist film philosophy to reshape how we perceive human and more-than-human relationship, and the wellbeing of all. Constructing Daoist conceptual frameworks and situating film within a broader transcultural art-historical lineage, it seeks to expand how we experience cinema and perceive our place in the world through film. The project reveals that Daoism can activate cinema’s meditative power, highlighting its healing and restorative capacity in turbulent times.
“Daoism, cinema and wellbeing: Meditative Cinema” received AHRC Catalyst Award for the period of 2025-2028.
The Team
Principal Investigator
Writer, filmmaker, curator
Reader in Cinematic Art at the Department of Film Studies and Centre for Film and Ethics, Queen Mary University of London
Yu’s research, in theory and practice, explores cinema in relation to Asian philosophies, art histories, personal expression, and decolonisation, with a focus on creative documentary, artists moving image, women’s cinema and Sinophone cinema.
Yu’s existing research on Daoism and cinema has resulted in journal articles on Screen and Journal of Chinese cinema, and book chapters in edited collections. She is working on her second monograph Cinema that Breathes: Daoist film philosophy and Meditative Cinema. She is the author of ‘My’ Self on Camera (2019), and co-editor of China’s iGeneration (2014) and Essay Film and Narrative Techniques (2025). Kiki’s award-winning films, including Memory of Home (2009), China’s Van Goghs (2016), and The Two Lives of Li Ermao (2019), have been widely screened at international film festivals and art institutions. She also curates film seasons and moving image exhibition.
Project Collaborators
Gao Shiqiang
Artist, Professor of Art, Deputy Head
School of Intermedia Art, The China Academy of Art
Paul Gladston
Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair Professor
Contemporary Art, UNSW
Michelle Yu
Director
Global Culture Communication & Development Ltd (GCCD)
Beaumont Awareness
Organisation for meditation workshops and wellness retreats.
Advisory Board
Chris Berry
King’s College London
David Chai
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ashvin Devasundaram
Queen Mary University of London
Steven Eastwood
Queen Mary University of London
Victor Fan
King’s College London
Janet Harbord
Queen Mary University of London
Anat Pick
Queen Mary University of London
