The Storm

Screen
03/21 20:00 1 hall

In 1945, following the retreat of Japan, China’s rival parties (Nationalists and Communists) began a heated struggle for China’s Northeast. Whoever could gain control of China’s industrial center in the Northeast could hold all of China.
In the autumn of 1946, a small communist party work team quietly slipped into the Heilongjiang Province township of Yuanbao. Their arrival shattered the peace of Yuanbao, as a land reform movement of unprecedented would now commence.

Quickly, the work team split the lands and people between hired farmers, subsistence farmers, mid-level farmers, rich farmers and landlords, opening up class struggle. They instigate the poor and subsistence farmers to fight against the landlords and split their holdings. Yuanbao at the time had a population of seven hundred households, and 73 landlords and rich farmers were killed, at an average of one death for every ten households. All of the land was redistributed. According to the strict distribution standards of class consciousness in Yuanbao, no landlord would ever reappear.

The landlord and rich classes were wiped out. To protect the newly distributed lands, the villagers joined into the military. The balance of power in the war for the northeast had been transformed.

After the establishment of the People’s Republic, and ten years of reforms, the descendents of those landlords and rich farmers began renting and buying land from their fellow villagers. They slowly reacquired their lands and became big grain producing families.

Filmmakers’ Statement:
The narration of history depends on the aims of history. When talking of a certain historical period, people from different standpoints will tell us vastly different accounts. The vast majority of people’s perceptions of history are derived from the accounts and perspectives of certain people involved.

We may never be able to obtain the real history of an event, but we believe that one of the ways to strive for greater accuracy is to pay careful attention to folk stories, the tales that are continually told by those closest to the events.

Chinese rural areas experienced an earth shattering reform during the years between 1945 and 1952−that was the land reform of the Communist Party leadership.

Land reform worker and author Zhou Libo created a novel in 1947 entitled The Storm depicting this unprecedented land reform movement, and it spread for decades as a textbook for land reform. It was made into a film in the 1960’s with the same title.

After months of detailed research on the foundation of a vast amount of historical documents, we entered deep into the inspiration for the novel The Storm, Yuanbao Village, in Yuanbao Township, Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province, where we spent one year completing this film, based on The Storm.

Length: 89 minutes
Language: Chinese
Format: Digital Betacam

Producer: Chen Xiaoqing
Planning: Kang Jianning

Directors: Jiang Yue, Duan Jinchuan
Assistant Directors: Ru Sheng, Chen Yan
Photography: Jiang Yue, Duan Jinchuan
Sound: Chen Min
Assistant Photographer: Wang Xiaofeng
Production: Wang Yun, Kang Kai
A Beijing Niannian Sanchang Film Studio Production

2005

Duan Jinchuan

Duan Jinchuan (b. 1962) graduated from Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1984 and went to work at Tibet TV Station. In 1992, he came back to Beijing and became an independent documentary filmmaker. His major works include The Square, No.16 Barkhor South Street , The Secret of My Success, The War of Love, and The Storm.

Jiang Yue
Jiang Yue (b. 1962) graduated from the Faculty of Literature at the China Drama Institute and joined the Beijing Film Studio in 1988. He began making independent documentary films in 1991. His major works include Tibetan Theater Troupe of Lhama Priests, Bakhor, The Residents of Lhasa's Potala Square , Catholics in Tibet The Other Bank , A River Stilled, This Happy Life, The War of Love, and The Storm .

Kang Jianning
Kang Jianning (b. 1954) graduated from the Beijing University of Physical Education in 1970, and became a gym teacher of this university for ten years. In the mid-1980's, He went to work at TV Station, began making documentary series. Kang was the vice-chairman of Ningxia TV station, and now he is a representative in the history of China documentary. His major works include The Sand and The Sea, Police Bureau, Y in and Yang, Soldier, and Listen to Mr. Fan.