192 minutes / Color
Mandarin / English subtitles
Release: 2020
Copyright: 2019
Two films on one DVD. Director and artist Hu Jie has been called China’s most important unofficial historian-filmmaker. Through his many documentaries, along with his woodcuts and paintings, he continually fights to reveal the truth—even as museums, galleries, and film festivals that show his work are shut down by Chinese authorities.
One of Hu Jie’s most powerful films, SPARK looks back on the legacy of a small, but influential magazine from Gansu Province that dared to tell the truth about the Great Leap Forward. Spark's young contributors bravely shone a light on the horrific realities, still to this day covered up by the Communist Party. Through interviews with surviving contributors (two were executed), Hu Jie weaves together a striking and emotional oral history of the publication and its times.
Featuring lush photography and revealing interviews, Rita Andreetti’s sensitive portrayal of Hu Jie explores his life and work. It’s a profile in tenacity and courage, revealing the toll his work has taken on his personal life—risking all in pursuit of truth.
"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
"Revealing. A thoughtful, creative artist defined by honesty and candor; [his] voice should be given wider audience." —Rouven Linnarz, Asian Movie Pulse
"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
"We can only imagine how difficult it is for Hu to produce his films; only a committed person who takes what he does as a 'calling,' can persist." —Dr. Weili Yu, Yale University, in the journal Asian Educational Media Service
"Profound; a film about the search for the truth." —Rouven Linnarz, Asian Movie Pulse
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
