Bob Zhou

Bob Chow (Zihan Zhou 周子涵) is a PhD student in the combined program of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies. Before beginning his doctoral work at Yale University, he received a B.A. in Art History and Economics with Minor in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University, where he completed a thesis focusing on re-imagining an alternative East Asian transnationality through film works of Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Zhang Lu.

His research interests broadly include modern and contemporary East Asian cinema and media, postcolonialism, East Asian transnationality, urban and suburban infrastructure and landscape, site-specific practices, affect studies and nostalgia, trauma and disaster, and screen studies.

Beyond his academic works, he has been working as an independent film producer, film critic, and curator. The films he co-produced have been selected by Shanghai International Film Festival, ​Baku International Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, etc. As accredited correspondent to multiple major film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, he has contributed articles and podcasts for various major Sinophone media platforms, including T Magazine China and ToroScope. He also curated for Giloo, a leading streaming platform of documentaries and independent cinema based in Hong Kong and Taiwan.