Hu Sanshou visits his grandparents’ home in Xiangzidian village (Shaanxi province) with his camera for the first time. Vividly capturing their labour-intensive, self-sufficient ways of living, Hu invites us to observe the elderly couple’s everyday activities – preparing meals, raising pigs, and making tools. In the process of performing these tasks, they share their distant yet still raw memories of the Great Famine; their hands saying as much as their words.  

 In line with the ethos of the Folk Memory Project, this work makes visible not only the process of its making but also the filmmaker’s relationship to the story. Hu’s role behind the camera becomes merged with the memories of his grandmother who he is recording, and it is through these interactions that together they create a living archive. 

Followed by a Q&A with Hu Sanshou (on Zoom) 

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