Welcome
Recent articles by Dan Edwards
Namatjira Project: Righting a Wrong, RealTime, 13 September 2017
A review of Namatjira Project, a new film exploring the life of Australian Indigenous artist Albert Namatjira.
Plastic China: Recycling's Downside, RealTime, 18 July 2017
Wang Jiuliang's new documentary Plastic China explores the social and environmental impact of China's acceptance of much of the the world's waste.
"Border Crossings," Sydney Review of Books, 30 May 2017
An essay that uses the new memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, as a springboard for surveying the career of Chinese novelist and filmmaker Guo Xiaolu (author of I Am China).
"Virtual Embodiment, Real Empathy," RealTime 137, Feb-March 2017
Coverage of the VR+ Day at the 2017 Australian Documentary Conference in Melbourne, featuring VR pioneers such as Navid Khonsari, Austrlaian artist Lynette Wallworth, and Oscar Raby and Katy Morrison of the Melbourne-based VR production company VRTOV.
"Documentary in a Virtual, Post-truth World," RealTime 137, Feb-March 2017
Dan Edwards talks to the director of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), Andrew Wiseman, on the eve of the 2017 event, about the challenges facing contemporary documentary makers.
"AIDC 2017: Transcending the News Cycle", RealTime 137, Feb-march 2017
A look at The Guardian's documentary initiative, that has seen the news outlet commissioning increasingly ambitious documentaries streamed on theGuardian.com. Guardian Documentaries Head Charlie Phillips will be in Melbourne in March 2017 as part of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC).
“A Space to Dream,” Sydney Review of Books, 5 December 2016
An essay reflecting on historical narratives in two new books about China – the novel by Canadian author Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, and a non-fiction account of Chinese contemporary art in the post-Mao era by Australian journalist Madeleine O'Dea, The Phoenix Years.
Welcome to the website of Australian writer, journalist and academic Dr. Dan Edwards. This site features examples of Dan's work from the wide variety of publications he has written for. Whenever possible links have been provided so articles can be viewed in their original context.
Dan now works in communications for the Victorian Government.
In his journalism, Dan mainly focused on politics and arts-related topics. From 2007–11 he lived in China's capital Beijing, and was the web editor for The Beijinger and wrote from China for New Matilda, an Australian online publication featuring news and analysis of current affairs. He is a regular contributor to RealTime, Australia's only free national arts magazine. His work has also appeared in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, The Diplomat, Fireflies, Inside Film, Screen Hub, Senses of Cinema, Meanjin, Metro Magazine, The Beijinger, Time Out Beijing and China Today. From 2015–16, he was a features editor for the online film journal Senses of Cinema.
Dan completed his PhD on China's independent documentary movement at Monash University in December 2014, and in May 2015 published his first book, Chinese Independent Documentary: Alternative Visions, Alternative Publics through Edinburgh University Press. He curated the Street Level Visions program of Chinese documentaries for the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival, and has regularly hosted Q&A sessions and panels at MIFF in the years since.
Before living in China, Dan was the managing editor of the Australian Film Commission's Communications Branch. He also formerly taught Film Studies at the University of New South Wales and from 2003 to 2005 was the assistant editor of RealTime.
All written content on this site is copyright Dan Edwards. Please contact the author for permission to reproduce any of this material. Feedback and comments are also welcome.
Contact: dan.cinema@gmail.com