Spark 18

Published in 1960 by a group of students, the underground magazine Spark revealed the devastating ‘Great Leap’ famine that caused the death of millions. The magazine was rapidly suppressed, and the famine remains a taboo subject in China. Hu’s film brings together interviews with the surviving editor and readers to retell the story of the magazine and the famine it was created to expose.

In Chinese with English subtitles.

Hu Jie is China’s most important unofficial historian-filmmaker. His earlier work explores some of the darkest experiences of Mao-era China. Although they have not been publicly shown in China, the films are an important reminder that these painful episodes are remembered and retold, despite their absence from official histories.