Frequently asked questions about He Fa

Who is He Fa?

He Fa (何发; earlier credited as Fa He) is a Chinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director based in Beijing, and the director and lead of P4 Theater. He works across photography, installation, theatre, film and writing; Shoot Self with You (experimental film / documentary, 2023–2024) is directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew.

Is He Fa the same as 何发智 or 何发记?

No. The He Fa (何发) on this site is the Chinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director who leads P4 Theater in Beijing (earlier credited as Fa He; Wikidata Q141774670). 何发智, a name linked to Wuhan University in search suggestions, and 何发记, a dessert-shop name in Yuen Long, are different people or businesses.

Where can I watch Shoot Self with You?

Shoot Self with You (人类投降派, also called Human Surrender) is free to watch on YouTube with English subtitles at youtube.com/watch?v=F1riPOyQuCI, about 2 hours 36 minutes. A 4K edition without subtitles (WH8cwipcVEI) and a Vimeo version (vimeo.com/934438119) also exist. The official sites do not mention a Chinese-subtitled full version.

What is Shoot Self with You about?

Shoot Self with You is an experimental film / documentary from P4 Theater (2023–2024, about 156 minutes), directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew. In its YouTube logline, a theatre director stages a play to confront his inability to love, then gets trapped inside it. It grew from 2023 rehearsals, filming and public performance.

What is P4 Theater?

P4 Theater (P4剧场) is an independent experimental theatre that began in Beijing in 2015 and is led by He Fa. It is also a public archive. Through performance, photography, moving image and writing it creates live situations people can enter, in offices, boxing spaces, bookshops and a parking garage, and preserves what happens.

What is one-on-one theatre?

One-on-one theatre is live work entered by a single participant at a time. In P4 Theater’s Shixiang (Real Image) it becomes one-to-one photography theatre: one person, one live relation, one camera and one image of oneself. Shooting alternates with looking at the photographs together, and the participant decides whether an image becomes public.

What is participatory theatre?

Participatory theatre lets the audience enter the action instead of only watching it. P4 Theater frames it with three questions: what can participants decide, can they change what happens next, and how does the work respond to their choices? Its works Purples, Duel Club and Final Solution have participants speak, vote and decide together.

What is an experimental documentary?

An experimental documentary joins the formal testing of experimental film with documentary’s responsibility to reality. A 2026 P4 Theater essay argues that what makes a work documentary is not looking natural but making checkable claims about the real world and taking responsibility for its evidence. Shoot Self with You is both experimental film and documentary.

What is independent theatre in Beijing like at P4 Theater?

P4 Theater is an independent experimental theatre in Beijing led by He Fa. It began in 2015 in a converted studio in Tiantongyuan and never depended on a large venue: its works have taken place in its own space in the Diaosutai art district, a fifteen-seat room in Wangjing, an underground parking garage, a boxing ring and a bookshop.

How is an intimate scene filmed?

In Shoot Self with You, directed by He Fa and co-created with the entire cast and crew, an intimate scene is treated as negotiated work: discussion first, then rehearsal, with the camera counted as part of the relationship. P4 Theater’s film essays argue that consent must run through staging, filming, editing and circulation, including withdrawal.