Self-Portrait: Dying at 47 KM

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.

In the Chinese countryside, an old woman tells the story of her deceased son, while a little girl paints her dreams on the walls of the house. A personal and attentive perspective on the territory, which articulates the memory of a disappearing generation and the hopes of the one to come.

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.

“Action 2024” is a snapshot of independent filmmaker Wu Wenguang's experiences during the year 2024, which he spent in a village called Shijiawan growing rice, corn, and vegetables, and raising chickens, ducks, and geese. What sets this work apart from Wu's previous films is that it was not conceived as a project first, leading to a film; instead, it emerged organically from the filmmaker's life working in the village—farming and raising poultry—during which time he had attached to his body a miniature camera. This process prioritized living and farming first, followed by documentation, and ultimately resulted in an 18-hour film which follows the chronological order of occurrences and documentation, and is structured into five chapters: “June,” “July,” “August,” “September,” and “October.” Screened online over 5 consecutive Fridays from January 31 to February 28, 2025.

The film is about the first two years in the Memory Project. All images was from my angle with my camera.

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.

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

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 young filmmaker returns to her village to interview the elderly on the Chinese famine of 1958-60. But the villagers' replies direct her back to the memory of her own family.

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.

This film is the second segment of my “Autobiography Series.” From the moment when my mother disclosed a long kept secret, my birth was accompanied by many struggles for my mother. Those “struggles” include: during pregnancy, “should this child be kept,” to the painful struggles in the delivery process. Struggles have also accompanied since I was born, becoming part of my life.

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

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

This is the fourth film in my self-portrait series. I went back to the village named 47 km in 2013. My grandfather was critically ill, and I accompanied him like accompanied the death. The old people and their memories are like dead leaves. I got familiar with the children and we acted together to build a bookroom in village. Between the solitary old people and the naïve sunshine children, can I find my dream here?

After Self-Portrait: At 47 Km, Zhang Mengqi pursues her contributions to the Folk Memory Project, relentlessly questioning the survivors of the 1959-61 famine in her village, “47 kilometres” (47 km from Suizhou, in Hebei Province).