Film Screening: “Resurrection” (Hu Sanshou, 2024) + Q&A w/ director
Hu Sanshou (director)
Directed by Hu Sanshou, 2024, 115 min, China, in Chinese dialects w/ Chinese & English subtitles
Following the screening, stay for Q&A with director Hu Sanshou, moderated by Professor Guo-Juin Hong (AMES).
About the film
In 2022, a new highway project was about to cut across my hometown, serving as a symbol of modernization itself. The deceased resting beneath were facing displacement. I documented the unearthing of graves and interviewed villagers about their memories of the dead.
Through the narratives of villagers, I pieced together the lives of the deceased and recreated a picture of the past appearance of our hometown. By imagining the circumstances of those who had passed on, I was able to draw a portrait of the deceased. This contemplation of the past leads to a question: where will our future lead us?
Awards
2024 TIDF “Salute! Chinese independent Documentaries” (shortlisted)
Director's Statement
“The highway surged into my hometown with relentless momentum, beyond my power to oppose or obstruct. Thus photography becomes a form of rebellion and silent testimony. With each click of the shutter, the questions raised by this rapid construction grow more profound and more elusive.
The highway hastens the comings and goings of people. I cannot dictate the starting point of my journey through life, but I can choose where to return. For me, returning to my hometown is a life action, because hometown is an eternal mystery.”
About the Director
Hu Sanshou was born in Shaanxi province. He studied cinematography at Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 2015. He joined the Folk Memory Project in 2013. Other films include “Mountain Village” (2013), and “Legend” (2015).
In 2018, his film, “Dumb Man,” was shortlisted for the TIDF “Salute! Chinese independent Documentaries.” In 2021, his documentary, “The Burrows,” was shortlisted for the Envision Competition at IDFA 2021. The film also won the Grand Prize at the TIDF Asian Vision Competition; 2022 Jury Special Mention.
Hu is also affiliated with a network of documentary filmmakers contributing to the Memory Project, a portion of which is housed at the Duke University library. Wu Wenguang, a pioneer of modern Chinese independent film, launched the Memory Project in 2010 to collect oral histories from survivors of the Great Famine that devastated rural China between 1958 and 1961. Officially known in China as the “Three Years of Natural Disasters” or “The Difficult Three-Year Period,” the Great Famine caused the death of between 20 and 43 million people. More recently, the project has expanded to include stories of the Great Leap Forward of 1958-1960, the Land Reform and the Collectivization of 1949-1953, the Four Cleanups Movement in 1964, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976.