ZI HUA XIANG: 47 GONG LI TIAO WU

After Self-portrait at km 47 (Cinéma du réel 2012), Zhang Mengqi pursues her contributions to the Folk Memory Project, relentlessly questioning the survivors of the 1959-61 famine in her village, “47 kilometres” (47 km from Suizhou, in Hebei Province). Mistrust, fear of criticising the Communist Party… It is no coincidence that she is welcomed by a barking dog at the outset of the film. But her perseverance is also clear right from the start: she keeps the animal at bay with her even louder bark. This time, her collecting has a concrete purpose: to erect a stone memorial. She enquires about the names of witnesses and the dead, the dates – an almost impossible quest given that memories seem so fragmentary. Her determination to unlock this repressed history also brings her face to face with destitution in the here and now: a shack lit by a weak diesel lamp, the noiseless decline of a community reluctant to celebrate those who died from indigestion after a providential bowl of rice or because they were barred from scavenging through dustbins. “They are not heroes, they have done nothing exceptional”, says one old man. Whether in its choreography or photography, Zhang’s choreographed photo installation set up near the village confirms that memory is not reserved for “heroes”. (Charlotte Garson)