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ARCHIVE

25th(2023)



Hidden Letters

Violet DU FENG, ZHAO Qing

  • China, Germany, Norway, United States
  • 2022
  • 88min
  • DCP
  • color

SYNOPSIS

Spanning past and present, the film Hidden Letters follows two millennial Chinese women connected by their fascination with the secret language, Nushu, of sisterhood and their desire to protect it. 

PROGRAM NOTE

Nüshu(Ò³ßö; Chinese hidden letters) is a secret language created and used exclusively by Chinese women who were prohibited from using the language considered the domain of men. It might be an unfamiliar term, but similar histories can be found in Korea¡¯s Hangul, called Amgeul (women¡¯s letters), and Japanese Hiragana, called Onnade (women¡¯s hand).
This documentary revolves around two female successors of Chinese hidden letters, Hu Xin and Wu Simu, who continue to preserve the language from the time of its last speaker, He Yanxin. Through the stories of Hu Xin, who struggles to escape from the shadow of domestic violence, and Wu Simu, who faces pressure to give up her career to have a child, we realize that the tragic history of Nüshu¡¯s origin continues to be reproduced even today. This language, which reflects the anguish of Chinese women deeply rooted in a patriarchal society, represents a history of ongoing independence passed down from grandmothers to mothers and mothers to daughters.
The documentary Hidden Letters will be especially intriguing for those who remember Nu Shu: A Hidden Language of Women in China, directed by Yang Yue-Qing and screened at the 3rd SIWFF.  [LEE Seona, Cinefemme]

Director

  • Violet DU FENGViolet DU FENG

    A documentary filmmaker and a 2018 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow. Feng started her career as a co-producer on the 2007 award-winning Nanking (2007). She is the consulting programmer of Shanghai Intl. Film & TV Festiva. Hidden Letters is her second feature-length documentary as a director.

  • ZHAO QingZHAO Qing

    Zhao Qing is the director of the award-winning Please Remember Me (2015), supported by the Sundance Documentary Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund and the Britdoc Connect Fund.

Credit

  • Cast HU Xin, WU Simu, HE Yanxin