HU Jie

Acclaimed internationally for his paintings and woodcuts as well as an oeuvre of more than 30 hard-hitting historical political documentaries, Hu Jie is one of China's leading contemporary artists. Widely credited as the first native artist to frankly depict China's Great Famine and the deadly work camps of the late 1950s and early 1960s, his work focuses on individuals who have risked—or lost—their lives to tell the truth about the horrors they endured during the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward.

More info: "China's Invisible History": An Interview with Hu Jie from The New York Review of Books

Icarus Films is proud to distribute the following films by and about Hu Jie. Discover more of our featured filmmakers.


"Hu Jie's body of work puts a human face on some of the worst horrors of the Communist Party's recent history." —Matthew Bell, Public Radio International

"Though none of his works have been publicly shown in China, Hu Jie is one of his country's most noteworthy filmmakers." —Ian Johnson, The New York Review of Books

"Hu Jie's independent filmmaking is different; he consciously uses documentary film as a means to challenge official Chinese historical narratives while providing visual details in order to, in Hu Jie's own words, 'remember history.'" —Shen Rui, Senses of Cinema

FILMS BY HU JIE

Condemned "Rightists" sentenced "thought reform" share first-person accounts of life in a notorious Chinese labor camp.

HU Jie | 2009 | 101 minutes | Color | English; Mandarin | English subtitles

China is doing everything in its power to silence filmmaker Hu Jie, but he remains on his lonely mission to document the country's true history.

Rita Andreetti | 2019 | 78 minutes | Color | Mandarin | English subtitles

A landmark documentary on the gifted young poet who spoke out at the height of Chairman Mao's rule... and her subsequent fate.

HU Jie | 2012 | 115 minutes | Color | English; Mandarin | English subtitles

In this incindiary film, artist Hu Jie shares the testimony of the brave survivors of the political magazine Spark for the first time.

HU Jie | 2019 | 114 minutes | Color | Mandarin | English subtitles

Pioneering artist Hu Jie uncovers the shocking story of girls' school headmistress who was beaten to death by her students during the Cultural Revolution.

HU Jie | 2012 | 68 minutes | Color | English; Mandarin | English subtitles