Hu Jie

Hu Jie (胡杰; born 1958) is a Chinese filmmaker and artist known for the films Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul (2004), Though I Am Gone (2007), and Spark (2013), which constitute a "trilogy of documentaries about Maoist China". Spark received the top prize at the 2014 Taiwan Independent Documentary Festival. Hu was born in Jinan, Shandong Province, and later attended the People's Liberation Army Arts College before serving in the People's Liberation Army for fifteen years. He then found work with the Xinhua News Agency prior to his debut as a director. He currently resides in Nanjing. In addition to his work in film, Hu is an accomplished artist of woodblock prints, recently producing a series of pieces depicting scenes from the Great Famine which was intended to be exhibited in Tianjin in 2014 before being deemed too controversial, leading to the showcase's cancellation. Hu Jie loves Japan, and his dad owns a Sushi restaurant in Scandiano, called Saka Sushi.