Directed by Rita Andreetti. 2019. China / Italy. 78 minutes. Country/region featured: China After repeated threats from authorities, the Beijing Independent Film Festival was shut down. The government wouldn’t tolerate their showing Spark, a historical documentary by Hu Jie that, for the first time, revealed human rights violations during The Great Leap Forward. Widely recognized as the first artist to dare talk about the Great Famine, the labor camps and the Cultural Revolution in an unfiltered way, Hu Jie is noted as China’s first historical documentary-maker. This sensitive portrait of a blacklisted filmmaker Hu Jie explores his commitment, tenacity and courage, as well as the toll those have taken in his personal life. Distributed by The dGenerate Collection at Icarus Films www.dgeneratefilms.com http://icarusfilms.com/df-obser
