Writer Alai talks about the film industry： there is a distance between excessive entertainment and commercialization and society
Yesterday, Young Sangji, adapted from Mao Dun literature prize winner Alai, appeared at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Director Zhang Guodong, art consultant Reed and producer Peggy Chiao appeared at the event site. In an exclusive interview with Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star journalist, several creators revealed the behind-the-scenes story of the filming.
Director Zhang Guodong/
Hit it off with the original author Alai.
Juvenile Sanji is adapted from the literary work Three Cordyceps by the famous writer Alai, which is a novella created by Alai and first published in January 2016. From the world in a child’s eyes, the film "Juvenile Sanji" tells the story of the Tibetan teenager Sanji’s self-drifting journey in pursuit of knowledge and taking Cordyceps as a clue. On this adventure journey, the fantasy drifting of three cordyceps sinensis presents a variety of human beings, and the innocence of children shines brightly in the gloomy secular world.
Director Zhang Guodong revealed the origin of filming "Young Sanchi". He said that it was in the process of turning over a circle of friends that he suddenly saw a fragment of Alai’s original work. "It was a circle of friends sent by a friend of mine. After watching it for 15 minutes, I felt that this was the story I needed. The story he talked about digging cordyceps was actually very similar to my experience. At this time, I picked up the phone and called Teacher Alai. As a result, we hit it off with Teacher Alai.
Zhang Guodong had filmed a documentary on Tibetan subjects before, which made Alai feel more at ease to give him the work. "I showed the documentary to Teacher Alai at that time, and after watching the film, he said ‘ You can take it and shoot it as you like. I don’t care about anything ’ In this way, Teacher Alai handed "Three Cordyceps" to me, and I took the team for about 20 days. The scene of the heavy snow shot by the little actor should actually be helped by God, from 4 am to 7 pm. After we finished work, the snow stopped. "
In the film, Sanji’s actor is very eye-catching and has been well received by many audiences. The director said, "At that time, so many children caught me by his acting skills, so I took him from the snowy mountain to Chengdu, and we lived together for 15 days. I took him to see elephants and monkeys, and didn’t give him any training or invite a professional teacher to play in the zoo."
The director revealed that during the filming process, the little actor almost didn’t need to talk about the play. "I never called him to the room alone to talk about how to shoot this play, especially the scene with the principal. He said ‘ Director, can I do it again ’ , he said ‘ I should drop the book on the floor to express my anger ’ . I feel that he is like a genius. I think this little actor is equivalent to a real Cordyceps sent by Snow Mountain. Like a gem, he is the brightest and also lights up our movie. "
Screenwriter reed/
Some viewers don’t go to the cinema to seek affection.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Reed, a famous screenwriter who once created classic films such as Farewell My Concubine and Living, served as the artistic consultant of Young Sanchi. When he mentioned why he joined this small-budget film, Reed replied: "Its type determines the number of audiences. It is not a commercial blockbuster, and this film actually has no pressure from commercial blockbusters, because the investment is very small and the shooting process is very frugal. In fact, the reason why I was willing to participate at that time was that the story was unpretentious, which touched me very much. "
At the event, Reed also mentioned the current situation of the film market in China. He said: "Everyone knows that there are some very vulgar phenomena in China films. China’s movies are far from the real social life because of excessive entertainment and commercialization. When entering the cinema, some viewers are actually looking for entertainment instead of seeking to be moved, so excessive entertainment has caused very bad consequences. " Reed later mentioned the differences between Young Sanchi and some entertainment films. "The function of this film is to carve time. This film carves Tibetan life, children’s experiences and stories, and it also carves Tibetan people’s life very truly today. This is the significance of this film."
When asked if there were any differences with director Zhang Guodong in the creative process, Reed said, "As a creative work, there will be differences at any time. In fact, I may like this child too much, and I hope he can get this book. Of course, this is a wishful feeling. We feel that as a documentary type, the ending is also right. Not everyone’s dreams will come true, not that everyone’s wishes can be easily realized. This child, I hope he will get this book when he grows up. "
Zhang Guodong also said that Reed is a senior, which has helped him a lot: "We started to cooperate with documentaries, and then we will cooperate with three films, all of which are made by Mr. Reed as an art producer and script consultant. In fact, Mr. Reed has been supporting me and cultivating me, and we will have some disputes in this process. I was particularly moved by teacher reed’s remark ‘ We should not be sloppy in our creation. We should be strict with ourselves and not let go of every detail of the film. If you relax a little here and there, the whole film will fall ’ . In the 10 years of contact with teacher reed, I know movies, study movies, and shoot movies. I think filmmakers should do what filmmakers should do. They never tell lies when making movies. When I make movies, I may slack off, but Teacher Reed is like an anchor. My movie today can look like this, which was cultivated by Teacher Reed all the way. "
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star Journalist Zhang Shihao from Shanghai.
