Hidden Letters – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK December 9, 2022: HIDDEN LETTERS

December 3, 2022December 4, 2022 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Chinese films, documentaries, He Yanxin, Hidden Letters, Hu Xin, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, Marilyn Ferdinand., motw, Movie of the Week, Nushu, Pam Grady, Qing Zhao, sandie angulo chen, susan wloszczyna, Tiebin Feng, Violet Feng, Wei Gao

A secret written language shared among Chinese women, empowering a centuries-long legacy of covert sisterhood, is at the heart of Violet Feng’s thought-provoking, insightful documentary Hidden Letters. Known as Nushu, this language is an incredibly important part of China’s cultural history — but now that it’s no longer secret, can it retain its purpose and power? And are Chinese women really free of the circumstances that led to its creation in the first place?

Reviews

HIDDEN LETTERS – Review by Liz Whittemore

November 28, 2022December 3, 2022 Liz Whittemore Chinese films, documentaries, He Yanxin, Hidden Letters, Hu Xin, Nushu, Qing Zhao, Tiebin Feng, Violet Feng, Wei Gao

Nushu was called “the words of ants.” Poems and prose appeared on fans and handkerchiefs and often ended up buried

Reviews

HIDDEN LETTERS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

November 28, 2022December 3, 2022 Susan Wloszczyna Chinese films, documentaries, He Yanxin, Hidden Letters, Hu Xin, Nushu, Qing Zhao, Tiebin Feng, Violet Feng, Wei Gao

The documentary Hidden Letters, directed by Violet Du Feng, digs deep into Nushu, a traditional secret writing system used by women in Jiangyong County in China’s Hunan province. For thousands of years, Nushu has been a unique script used exclusively by local women. It is somewhat like calligraphy in that the figures are written with a brush and ink. Originally used in poems and songs, it not only provided women with a coping mechanism against the patriarchal hardships experienced before 1949 but gave them hope and allowed them to leave a legacy for future generations. The last descendant fluent in Nushu may have died in 2000, but efforts have been made to prolong its history.

Festivals Reviews

HIDDEN LETTERS (Tribeca 2022) – Reviewed by Marilyn Ferdinand

June 6, 2022December 3, 2022 Marilyn Ferdinand (Archived Contributor) Chinese films, documentaries, He Yanxin, Hidden Letters, Hu Xin, Nushu, Qing Zhao, Tiebin Feng, Tribeca 2022, Violet Feng, Wei Gao

In their very moving documentary, Hidden Letters, directors Violet Du Feng and Qing Zhao show how generations of Chinese women found cracks in their oppressive, patriarchal society and created a way to find a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak existence. Their strategy? Nushu, a private language they invented to write letters to each other to share their pain and gain comfort in communion.