Spark (星火)

Spark (星火)

Director: Hu Jie
Runtime: 114 minutes
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Country: China

Introduction by Zou Sicong (Blaues Haus)

After the Anti-Rightist Campaign (反右运动) in 1957, a group of students and faculty from Lanzhou University who had been labeled as “Rightists” (右派分子) were sent to rural areas in the Tianshui region of Gansu Province for reeducation through labor (劳动改造). There, they witnessed firsthand the absurdities of the Great Leap Forward (大跃进) and the horrific scenes of mass starvation during the ensuing famine.

These experiences compelled several of them to create an underground journal titled Spark (星火). In this publication, they documented the widespread exaggeration, poverty, and hunger in the countryside, offering the first systematic and in-depth theoretical critique of the People’s Commune system (人民公社). Spark (星火) also marked a significant moment in Chinese intellectual history by calling for democratic socialism and denouncing the power of political oligarchies. 

Spark (星火) remains the only known independent intellectual publication produced during China’s Great Famine(大饥荒) in the 1960s. In the end, 43 people—including the core editorial team, local farmers, and the communist cadres who had supported or sympathized with them—were arrested and handed heavy sentences. Among them, key figures such as Zhang Chunyuan (张春元), county party secretary Du Yinghua (杜映华), and Lin Zhao (林昭) were later executed during the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命).

Through rare archival materials, voiceover narratives, and interviews with surviving family members, Hu Jie reconstructs the lives and destinies of these young dissenters. The film illuminates a significant yet suppressed chapter of modern Chinese history and pays homage to the individuals who boldly opposed injustice at immense personal risk.

Spark continues Hu Jie’s commitment to documenting China’s obscured histories and amplifying the voices of those silenced. This documentary received the top prize at the 2014 Taiwan Independent Documentary Festival.
 

Director's bio

Hu Jie, born in 1958, is one of China’s most important independent documentary filmmakers. He is best known for his work documenting suppressed histories of modern China, particularly the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. His films, including Though I Am Gone (我虽死去), Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul (寻找林昭的灵魂), and Spark (星火), are widely acclaimed for their unflinching commitment to truth and memory. Hu Jie is also a woodblock painter and formerly worked as a photojournalist. While his work has been widely screened and studied internationally, it remains largely inaccessible to audiences within China.
 

Blaues Haus Stiftung

The Blaues Haus Stiftung is a non-profit foundation under civil law in the Federal Republic of Germany, established in 2022 in Hanover. Its mission is to support researchers, writers, and creators, and to promote culture, arts, education, and international understanding. With a strong international orientation, the foundation seeks to foster cross-cultural, cross-regional, and intergenerational exchange and collaboration.