Interview with Xuetao, the director of "Searching For Faith In Love"

 

Question: The film ‘Searching for Faith in Love’ has a young girl who is tired of her life with her family in a village and wishes to leave. Do many young people in China want to leave the countryside? Why do they want to leave and what problems does this cause?

Answer: The young girl is a graduate from a top university who lives in the city. She comes to the countryside as a volunteering teacher. As she cannot bear the difficult living condition of the countryside, she wants to leave. In China, many young people growing up in the countryside want to broaden their horizon in the city and work hard to make a better living. On the contrary, many  kindhearted college students from the city like this young girl would like to be a volunteering teacher in the countryside. 

Question: The film also features a clash between generations. What kind of disagreements do young and older people have in China? Do you think that there are any specific reasons for these arguments in Chinese culture or is it a universal thing?

 

Answer: In the whole world, where there are people, there is generation clash as the education  level and horizon of the young generation is totally different from the older. They have different attitudes toward work and life. Generation clash is not a special conflict in China. It is universal for humankind.

 

Question: What made you want to make films; what were your influences and why did you want to make this film in particular?

 

Answer: In China, there is a special foundation. It is the organizer of “Volunteering Art Teachers”. In each week, professors, graduate students, undergraduates from top universities go to the schools in the countryside to offer teaching. They teach pupils ballet, piano playing and singing. They have kept doing that for over ten years. This film is adapted from a true story. We are touched by them. The actress for the main character is the image ambassador of the foundation and also one of the volunteering teachers.

 

Question: What advice would you give for any young film-maker who wants to get started in the movie business?

Answer: One has to make a film about the thing that arouses your feelings, even if it is a flashing moment. 

Question: What projects are you going to be doing in the future?

 Answer: We are going to combine “Metauniverse” with new consumption and make a film with a storyline and something of high-tech.

Interviewed by; David James Bell