Filmmaker Violet du Feng on Hidden Letters and Nushu, a language that men don’t understand.
Violet Du Feng, documentary filmmaker of Hidden Letters, 2022
Ep.39 | Violet Du Feng is an award-winning filmmaker and among the many topics we delved into we talked about the pressures of capitalism, her observations of living both in China and in the U.S., the challenges of today’s ambiguous world and what she hoped to achieve with her recent and multiple award-winning documentary Hidden Letters.
Hidden Letters follows two millennial Chinese women connected by their passion for Nushu, a secret female-only language that for centuries has allowed women to communicate privately without men understanding their correspondence.
While practices like foot-binding are long past, the film shines a light on contemporary millennial women’s ongoing struggle to forge their own paths in the patriarchal climate in China today, and the value of a sisterhood that can support along the way. The timely film has a focus on how female communication networks remain a significant lifeline around the world today.
Violet is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and Sundance has named her as one of "7 Directors to Watch." Violet is a compelling and passionate artist who has produced multiple award-winning films such as DEAR MOTHER, I MEANT TO WRITE ABOUT DEATH, SINGING IN THE WILDERNESS, CONFUCIAN DREAM, MAINELAND, and PLEASE REMEMBER ME. Feng started her career as a co-producer on the 2007 award-winning NANKING. She is the consulting programmer of Shanghai International Film Festival. HIDDEN LETTERS is her second feature-length documentary as a director.
Website: www.hiddenlettersfilm.com
Instagram: @hiddenlettersfilm
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