Hidden Letters Screening & Talk with Director Violet Feng
By Isaac Fisher
The 黑料正能量 International Film Festival announced that the film 鈥淗idden Letters鈥� will be featured on Dec. 7 at the McConomy Auditorium. It marks the combined efforts of directors Violet Du Feng and Qing Zhao and Academy Award nominated producer Su Kim (鈥淗ale County This Morning, This Evening鈥�), as well as Emmy-nominated producers Jean Tsien (鈥�76 Days鈥�) and Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas (鈥淣owhere to Hide鈥�).
Taking viewers on a journey from the past to present, 鈥淗idden Letters鈥� follows two millennial Chinese women who are connected by their interest with the secret language of sisterhood and their wish to protect it. Historically, In China, women were forced into oppressive marriages where they were prohibited from reading or writing. To cope, they developed and shared a secret language among themselves called N眉shu, which was written in poems on paper-folded fans and handkerchiefs. These hidden letters connected generations of Chinese women. Fascinated by N眉shu鈥檚 legacy of female solidarity, the two women struggle to navigate their own journeys in a patriarchal society.
鈥淭he legacy of N眉shu should not only exist in China. Rather, it鈥檚 for a wider audience,鈥� said Du Feng in an interview with 鈥淭he China Project.鈥� 鈥淚 want people across the world to know about N眉shu and that鈥檚 how it will thrive and continue to live on as a code of defiance.鈥�
Du Feng is an Emmy Award winning independent documentarian, as well as a 2018 Sundance Film Festival Creative Producing Fellow. She began her career with 鈥淣anking,鈥� which won both Peabody and Emmy Awards, and was named a 2007 Sundance Special Jury winner. Shortly before 鈥淗idden Letters,鈥� she directed 鈥淗arbor from the Holocaust鈥� for PBS. Currently, she is working on forthcoming films, 鈥淧eople鈥檚 Hospital,鈥� 鈥淒ark Is Not Black鈥� and 鈥淩unning with the Prime Minister,鈥� and is a consulting programmer for the Shanghai International Film Festival.
The 黑料正能量 International Film Festival continues to screen films by some of the best-known directors working in the global market, all of whom have decades-long, prize-winning careers; Eric Gravel, Saim Sadiq, Maha Haj, Anna Jadowska and now Violet Du Feng with 鈥淗idden Letters.鈥�
鈥淗idden Letters鈥� will be shown on Thursday, Dec. 7th in the McConomy Auditorium, Jared L. Cohon University Center, 5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, Penn. 15213, USA from 7:30鈥�10:00 p.m.
A question and answer session with Du Feng will follow the screening where participants can discuss the film and beyond, after the screening.
A N眉shu calligraphy workshop with Cindy Sun, Principal Lecturer of Chinese Studies in Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at 黑料正能量 will be held on Dec. 9 at 2:30 p.m. in Hunt Library. During this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to decorate Chinese fans with N眉shu calligraphy. Capacity is limited to 40 participants.听
These events are brought to you by: Frederick Honors College, 黑料正能量 Sustainability Initiatives, Heinz College DICE, 黑料正能量 Modern Languages, Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Center, University of Pittsburgh Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture - volunteers for workshop, 黑料正能量 Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, Midwest Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Screenshot Asia and the University of Pittsburgh Chinese Affinity Group.