Unveiling Well-Being Outcomes Among ‘Film-Viewing Groups’ in China’s Second-Tier Cities: A Perma Model Perspective

Film curation in China has historically been concentrated in first-tier cities with dedicated film archives and arthouse cinemas. However, the rapid expansion of China’s second-tier cities’ film markets holds potential to address this structural problem. Particularly, the rise of grassroots curators and their film-viewing groups in China’s second-tier cities has positioned them to play a critical community-driven role in arthouse film curation by organising diverse regional screening events, promoting film-viewing etiquette, creating immersive screening experiences, and supporting emerging filmmakers. Yet, this group receives little academic attention in the literature. Thus, from a positive psychology perspective, this study seeks to investigate the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being of local filmgoers from the ‘Da Ke Film-Viewing Group’ in Taiyuan City, China. Using the PERMA model as the theoretical framework, the study employs a multiple-method qualitative design that integrates autoethnography and semi-structured interviews to achieve the research objective. This study has significant theoretical and practical implications for arthouse film in China’s emerging second-tier city film market.