Question 1: Your film “Flowering Season” is about a school boy who, in a moment of crisis, considers committing suicide. Is this film based on any real events or social trends?
Answer: Before writing the screenplay, we had an investigation. We interviewed the archetype character of the story. We took the story of him as the plot and then combined the stories of other interviewees with his.
Question 2: What kinds of pressures and challenges do modern young people in China face? Are their lives more difficult than those of their parents when they were at school?
Answer: I think, the young generation in China is facing a series of social problems caused by the fast pace of social life, the missing cultural tradition, the temptation of violence and pornography on social media as well as overemphasis of elites on the media. Many of these factors have become the source of stress for young people. The rushing life has changed our lifestyle and transformed the societal structure. There are both opportunities and challenges in it. Outside of China, many other nations with long history and rich cultural traditions are also facing this kind of problems, such as those in Europe, South Africa and Middle East. Many young people have forgotten the great traditions of their nation and the noble moralities that they can be proud of. I think it is because of globalization.
In terms of material life, the young generation live far better in this age than their parents. But they have to face more stress and temptation than their parent. Anyway, as global technology is ever developing and our age is advancing, change is always the theme of the world.
Question 3: “Flowering Season”’s director Zhang Hai studied film at both Beijing University and the New York Film Academy. With this insight, what differences do you think exist between the way films are made in China and America?
Answer: In my opinion, the major difference is cultural background. The East and the West, or in other words, China and America have two distinct systems of culture and language. Therefore, they have different understandings of the world and will express the world differently.
Question 4: What are your influences? Which films and film makers made you want to make films?
Answer: I learned painting in my childhood. I studied graphic design and modern art in my university. With the experience in diverse forms of art, I can go beyond the boundary of graphic design and develop my skills in multimedia, animations and digital video. Finally, I was deeply fascinated by film, a comprehensive form of art and expression. At that time, I liked Steven Spielberg’s films E.T. and Close Encounter of the Third Kind. I was greatly shocked by the two films. In 2004, I came up with the idea of making a film which was never made. So, I started writing my first screenplay "Spirit of the Earth Lula". Last, this screenplay was adapted into a fiction.
When we are kids, we must have watched the starry sky in the deep night. We would point at a star and ask, “Where is it?”
There are many stars in my sky:
Steven Spielberg: E.T., Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Purple, Schinder’s List and Saving Private Ryan
Alfred Hitchcock: Rear Window, North by Northwest and the Birds
Ingmar Bergman: Wild Strawberries
Federico Fellini: Eight and a Half
Clint Eastwood: Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino
Wu Yonggang: Goddess
Cai Chusheng: The Song of Fishermen
Akira Kurosawa: Dream, The Seven Samurai, In the Woods, Chaos
Park Chan-wook: Old Boy
Santosh Sivan: Ashoka the Great
Question 5: What do you think Asian and Western film makers can learn from each other?
Answer: I think we can explore and combine the elements of diverse culture. For example, make a film in the way for western audience to tell a story about Eastern culture and philosophical ideas, or, make a film in the way acceptable for western language speaker about the story of mankind in the background of ancient Chinese civilization. In one word, to apply the film making and operating experience to develop more Eastern and Chinese stories.
Question 6: What are your future plans and projects?
Answer: I finished two documentaries just now. There are in the stage of post production.
"Madonna of the East Jinggu Chen" is a story of a super heroine in the end of Tang Dynasty on the theme of faith and courage.
"The Legend of Mo Xiang" is the first biographic documentary in the world about a contemporary scholar of The Book of Changes, to tell a story of perseverance and heritage.
We are now preparing for the cinema film "Soul Life", which is about a beautiful writer who swaps souls to find the meaning of life.
The cinema film “Love and Dance” in preparation is about a group of young street dancers living in Shanghai to hold fast their dream and protect their love.
When all the films are completed, I hope they can be screen in international film festival around the world so that we can communicate, learn from and cooperate with excellent filmmakers from all corners of the world. Then we can develop various types of films and explore the material and elements of Eastern and Western cultural traditions to create great and different audio and visual experience.
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