Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice
English and Chinese
English version produced by Human Rights in China
Shot over a period of five years by the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of the victims of the June Fourth crackdown, the video presents portraits of ordinary citizens who became military targets as troops swept through Beijing in June 1989. Featuring interviews with the family members of the victims, the video is a powerful testament to the group’s tenacious effort to demand that the Chinese government account for its actions against its own people.
Gate of Heavenly Peace (天安门)
English and Chinese
The Gate of Heavenly Peace, a documentary produced by Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon, details the protest movement leading up to the June Fourth crackdown. Its related website provides clips from the film, as well as background information on the crackdown, including a chronology leading up to the events of that day, and links to related published works.
The Tank Man
English
Frontline, a program of the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), released The Tank Man in 2006. This documentary investigates the story of the man who stood in front of People’s Liberation Army tanks and made international headlines. The documentary also provides an overview of the Beijing protests and the violent crackdown. The website provides additional information regarding the Democracy Movement, including a timeline of events of 1989.
Tiananmen Survivors Recall Massacre
English
This video, produced by New York-based New Tang Dynasty Television, tells the stories of Yu Dongyue, Lu Decheng, and Yu Zhijian, who threw paint-filled eggs at the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square on May 23, 1989. It outlines their role in the protests and their perspective on the events.
Tiananmen Generation: Being 20 Years Old in China (Génération Tiananmen, 1989-2009: avoir vingt ans en China)
French
A multimedia documentary produced in Flash by documentary photographer Patrick Zachmann as a part of Narratives. Separated into three parts, it covers the lead up to and events of June FOurth; interviews a participant in the 1989 demonstrations who was a university student at the time and a Chinese university student who was born in the late 80s; and a return to Tiananmen Square twenty years later.
20th Anniversary of June Fourth, We Dare Not Forget (『六四』二十年,我們不敢忘記)
Chinese
On Ching Ming (April 4, 2009), the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign in HK released this memorial video.
Tiananmen Square Massacre April–June 1989
Chinese
This 46-minute video is an extensive collection of footage from the events of April-June 1989. Clips include footage of the protests leading up to the crackdown, domestic media coverage, Zhao Ziyang’s speech to the students, and troops marching into Beijing towards Tiananmen Square and firing on protesters.
1989, Recall of Memory (一九八九:记忆的呼唤)
(Chinese)
A series of videos produced by Chinese activists now in exile, 1989, Recall of Memory documents various actors in the 1989 Democracy Movement, including their recollections of the movement and subsequent crackdown and their hopes for the future.