Caochangdi Workstation

The third part in Wu Wenguang's Autobiography film series.

As coronavirus begins to sweep the globe, Zhang returns to her father’s village with her camera, seeking to understand where the extraordinary phenomenon might sit in the grand palimpsest of China’s history. As with all of Zhang’s work, this is a committed, reflective, formally assured non-fiction film, grounded in collaboration and blessed with an uncanny sense of unhurried time.

Between 1959 and 1961, more than 35 million people starved to death because of Mao’s Great Leap Forward policies. To avoid censorship in China, this painful period is now euphemistically referred to as the “Three Years of Natural Disasters.” This courageous oral history, directed by Zhang Mengqi, tells the story from the point of view of her grandfather’s village, to which she returns every winter to interview survivors. Central is moving voice-overs from a grandmother who details harrowing pregnancies and lonely births during the Great Famine and her granddaughter, a migrant worker. In this agricultural village, the landscape is stark yet beautiful with plenty of room for contemplation. When a hand appears in front of the camera, Zhang transitions into a delightfully playful territory, incorporating a uniquely participatory experience that extends beyond the screen.

Edited together from materials taken from Caochangdi performances and activities between 2012-2013 and Wu Wenguang's own body camera record, this film can be regarded as a kind of "story follow-up" version of "Because of Hunger". In short, it is a kind of "remembrance".

The 23-year-old director, fresh out of university, lives at home with her mother and grandmother. She rebels against them but also tries to understand the generation gap between them. While she gets angry and questions their expectations of her as a woman (i.e., to marry and have children), she also gropes for the meaning of real love. Along with her mother and grandmother, the three women wring out their loves and hates with explosive strength. The director in her performance piece uses her own body to project the images of her mother, turning her lost loves into springboards, practically jumping out of the screen so she can shout with all her might.

A documentary following the filmmaker, Shu Qiao, who went back to his hometown of Shuangjing, a rural village in Hunan Province. He interviewed the elders in his village who lived through the Great Famine during 1959-1961. His main purpose was to gather the names of those who suffered and died during the famine and to ask the village to donate money for erecting a monument in their name

Zou Xueping continues to interview old people in her village, this time with the help of local children. They start collecting names and money to erect a memorial for the victims of the famine.

A documentary following the filmmaker, Li Xinmin, who went back to her hometown and interviewed the elders in her village who lived through the Great Famine during 1959- 1961. The residents of this village Huamulin are still isolated. At the same time, the film reflects the loneliness in the real life of village's old people

Luo Bing went back to Luo village, where he was born and grew up, and interviewed older people to know what happened during famine from 1959-1961. His neighbor, Ren Dingqi wrote a memoir, but he didn't really show it to Luo Bing. Luo Bing knew the history of this village much more after getting close to Ren Dingqi every time

During Luo Bing's second return to his village, Ren Dingqi finally accepts to showhim his memoirs.

This is my second documentary film, and it is fully composed of old people. One woman, nearing 80, is living out the last two years of her life. From when she is still using a cane to walk, to when she becomes paralyzed. This is my grandmother. We also see other elderly people from the village, their daily activities, the tales of their starvation from 50 years ago.

The village in the mountains of China that the director has long made the subject of her camera. The traces of memories and landscapes that fade away before one’s eyes. An 85-year-old man is recounting the story of half of his life, while a young girl draws portraits of the village elderly.

A documentary film following the daily life of director's grandfather in the winter of 2011. At 80 years old with five sons, the grandfather insists to live by himself in the rural area of Hebei

The first part of Wu Wenguang's Autobiography film series.

A documentary following the filmmaker, Wang Hai'an, who went back to his hometown of Zhanggao Cun, a rural village in Shandong Province. He interviewed the elders in his village who lived through the Great Famine during 1959- 1961. His main purpose was to gather the names of those who suffered and died during the famine and to ask the village to donate money for erecting a monument in their name, but the idea was rejected by the villagers

Jia Zhitan investigates the One Strike-Three Anti campaign in his village.

It is the director's second documentary of "my village" series since she got involved with the "Folk Memory Project". She returned to her hometown to shoot footage, recording the realities she encountered in her search for memories. Her biggest question is: after experiencing the disaster of the tragic famine fifty years ago, the villagers now are not short of food, and are living a better life than before, but is the spirit of this village still starving?

Li Xinmin's first return to her village in Yunnan province. Alongside interviews with some village elders, the film reveals the filmmaker's family and their views on her film project.

The newest instalment in a series set in a small village in a mountainous region in China. In the winter marking ten years since the director began filming, she tries to get a new building constructed in the village. The girls, who had thus far been the subjects of her films, take up the camera themselves, and begin recording scenes of the village.

The fifth title in Zhang Mengqi's Self-Portrait film series.