Hu Jie

Hu Jie (胡杰; born 1958) is a Chinese filmmaker and artist known for the films Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul (2004), Though I Am Gone (2007), and Spark (2013), which constitute a "trilogy of documentaries about Maoist China".[1] Spark received the top prize at the 2014 Taiwan Independent Documentary Festival.[2]

Hu was born in Jinan, Shandong Province, and later attended the People's Liberation Army Arts College before serving in the People's Liberation Army for fifteen years. He then found work with the Xinhua News Agency prior to his debut as a director.[3] He currently resides in Nanjing.

In addition to his work in film, Hu is an accomplished artist of woodblock prints, recently producing a series of pieces depicting scenes from the Great Famine which was intended to be exhibited in Tianjin in 2014 before being deemed too controversial, leading to the showcase's cancellation.

Early Life

Hu Jie, documentary filmmaker. Born in jinan, east China's shandong province in 1958. He studied traditional Chinese landscape paintings at the age of 15. He graduated from nanjing middle school in jiangsu province in 1975 and became a worker after graduation. He joined the army in 1977 and was in the air force for 15 years. From 1984 to 1986, he majored in political instructor of Shanghai air force political college. In 1989, he went to the PLA academy of art to study oil painting, and then he became a captain of the air force. In 1994, he worked as a painter in Beijing yuanmingyuan painting village. In 1995, the first documentary "the painter's life in the Summer Palace" was filmed. In 1999, he resigned from public office and became a professional documentary filmmaker.

His works

(1) 1995—Yuanmingyuan Artist Village[1] In the years before 1995, a number of young artists from all over the country came to pursue free and reative work in the villages near yuanmingyuan. These people settled down in the rental houses of the village, then they bought painter to stretch the canvas. They made exploration and creation of art. The documentary records some stories during and after this spring.

(2) 1995—Remote Mountain (40min)[2] In 1995, the documentary film director Hu Jie carrying simple machines, climbed the Qilian mountain in Qinghai province, which is located in ground 3500 meters above sea level. He recorded some fragments stories about local miners’s life. This documentary was later named “Mountains”, which is only 35 minutes.

(3) Women matchmaker/The Female Matchmaker (48min)[3]

In order to find such a visually inspired matchmaker, the director visited nearly 10 matchmakers and finally selected the matchmaker in the film. The director then followed the matchmaker and witnessed the vicissitudes of life. In addition to the land, there is no form of art that can describe the heavyness of life and emotion.

(4) The Trash Collector (10min, 1998)

(5) The Janitors (1998)

(6) The Construction Workers (1998)

(7) The Factory Set up by the Peasants (10min, 1998)

(8) The folk song on the plain/Mountain Songs in the Plain (70min, 2001)

Luo Xiaojia, a girl from the Yi nationality in Yunnan province, was kidnapped and sold to the shandong plain when she was 17 years old. She was forced to marry a young farmer. The film records her family life, her homesickness, and her view of life. When luo Xiaojia came to shandong province in the 10th year later, she finally got the chance to go home. After a journey of 4,000 kilometers, she returned to her hometown Yunnan province, where she saw her mother who cared for her day and night, and her relatives who betrayed her. In the end, her mother sang many songs for her, and with those songs she returned to shandong reluctantly.

(9) Bask in Sunshine (2002)

Bask in Sunshine has become the fashion that the toung people is pursuing in China. Young artists often take activities in the form of small groups. But these are not acceptable to the government and are restricted in some ways. However, artists also have a lot to show for themselves. The film records several artists in nanjing, China, who have gathered more than 200 artists from other regions to engage in a "sunbathing" modern art activity. They chose private desert island as a place to attract the local investor, so that the activity is very lively.

(10) On the Seaside (71min)

"On the seaside" records a braving the journey of grandparents Jia Qingyun. Because of the northeast living difficulties, husband and wife back to their hometown in shandong province and settled in their hometown by the sea with three children. However, in the face of the land that the forefathers lived, they had no land of their own. They have to face the sea, and start their life again.

(11) The vagina monologues: stories from China (63min, 2004, Cooperated with AI Xiaoming)

(12) Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul (115min, 2004)[4]

Among the many intellectuals who were classified as rightists in the 1958 anti-rightist movement, Peking University student Lin zhao was probably the most influential one. When the public accepted the unfair, she did not fear the power. She began to resist the totalitarian rule. After her arrest, she left hundreds of thousands of poems and articles on the wall in blood. In 1969, she was executed during the height of the cultural revolution. In Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul, the director visited her relatives, such as her classmates. The documentary records her life from 1949 to 1969 and even the whole China's social change.

(13) Painting for the revolution peasants paintings from Hu County (56min, 2005, Cooperated with AI Xiaoming)

(14) Taishi Village (114min, 2005, Cooperated with AI Xiaoming)

(15) Garden in heaven (140min, 2005, Cooperated with AI Xiaoming)

Huang Jing, a female teacher in hunan province, was found dead in her dormitory. Her boyfriend was charged with rape, but the judicial authorities did not handle it. This film reveals the important changes that China is experiencing today: the awakening of civic consciousness, the women's struggle against judicial corruption and the action against sexual violence. According to the film, from 2003 to 2005, the consciousness of citizenship was further awakened.[5]

(16) Though I am gone"or"Though I Was Dead (68min, 2006)

Evaluation

Hu Jie is an artist with strong humanistic care. And his works often contain a strong sense of justice. Hu Jie’s documentaries have a very distinct characteristic. his attention to the historical fate and to the marginal groups is reflected in his works. His works on the choice of subject is different from other director and his humanistic criticism consciousness should also be respect. Hu Jie’s documentary shows his cultural tensions and he hold the value of critical realism. For many years, hu jie insists in this difficult road and he created a large number of documentaries which are still unknown. As an artist, Hu Jie has not much fame and his works has no relationship with the art market. Hu Jie insisted on the way of art, which may be associated with he has a warm and happy family. And his wife's support are inseparable from his achievement. Of course, what dose the most matter is his own understanding of life.

[4]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ "China's Invisible History: An Interview with Filmmaker and Artist Hu Jie by Ian Johnson - NYRblog - The New York Review of Books". nybooks.com.
  2. ↑ "Spark". Taiwan International Documentary Festival.
  3. ↑ "HU Jie « dGenerate Films". dgeneratefilms.com.
  4. ↑ [1] 豆瓣电影https://movie.douban.com/subject/2997296/ [2] 百度百科https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%83%A1%E6%9D%B0/9405464 [3] https://thestandnews.com/art/%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA-%E8%83%A1%E5%82%91-%E6%8B%8D%E7%B4%80%E9%8C%84%E7%89%87%E6%98%AF%E7%82%BA%E4%BA%86%E5%90%91%E7%94%9F%E5%91%BD%E4%BA%A4%E4%BB%A3/ [4] Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qNVyiltxRg [5] 豆瓣电影https://movie.douban.com/subject/2131861/
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