As an independent documentary filmmaker, Louisa Wei became a member of the Hong Kong Director’s Guild in 2018 and has twice served as professional jury for the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Synopsis: Chairman Mao Zedong was looked upon as “the Red Sun” in China. Many regarded him as the “God” who saved the Chinese people from years of war and suffering, but Mao’s deity status was achieved by destroying the autonomy of Chinese intellectuals, silencing them through the implementation of Communist regime and a series of political “storms.” Storm under the Sun is about the storm which fell upon Hu Feng, a renowned writer and literary theorist since the 1930s. He founded the July and Hope magazines and nurtured a generation of poets and writers. The Communist Party organized rounds of systematic criticism on Hu Feng between 1944 and 1954. In 1955, Mao personally directed a nation-wide campaign against him and his friends. The Hu Feng Case resulted in the imprisonment of 92 Chinese intellectuals, mostly poets and writers, and led to the incrimination of more than 2,100 people. Some of these victims were Hu Feng’s friends or students, but most only knew him through his works. This documentary is the first to revisit these events after more than half a century, inviting nearly thirty survivors of the harsh “storm” to reveal the cruel truths that lie beneath China’s official history. Archive footage, animations, woodcut prints and original music are used to enrich the narrative.

Louisa Wei: With a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Alberta (Canada) and a MA in Comparative Literature from Carleton University (Canada), Professor Wei joined the School of Creative Media in 2001 and has taught over 4000 students. She teaches both theory and production to BA and MA students, with popular courses like Documentary 1, Documentary 2, Visual Storytelling, Visualizing Literature, and Chinese Cinema. She has advised hundreds of student projects, many of which have won awards in international and local film festivals and competitions.