Director’s Introduction:
Jianlin Pan was born from northwest region of China in 1969. He graduated from a university in Beijing with law degree, specialized in economic laws. He self-funded his film producing/directing career in his early 30’s, and produced and directed three feature films and two documentaries. Some of his films were in the finalist and rewarded from well-known film festivals such as Berlin International Film Festival, and Locarno Film Festival.
Unfortunately, none of his films obtained commercial release permit in China. He was broken, and returned to his hometown since 2008. He started to do business since then to make a living for his family and himself.
Film Synopsis:
Pan is a single father, who raise two underage boys (Xiaoxiao and Lele) along. Trying to compensate the lacking of maternal love for the two boys, Pan decorated the house with bright colors. He treats his boys with thoughtful kindness in daily life, and communicates with them equally and openly. Boys and Pan interact with each other like friends.
Pan suffered from his father’s violence and abuse in his childhood. Although Pan’s father passed away years ago, the hurt in heart buried deep, resentful feeling followed him as a shadow.
Pan’s own experience and hardship of fatherhood brought some understanding toward his father. Between the sympathy and resentment, Pan is trying to find the balance..Lele followed the boy who bullied him in school, requesting an apology. But the boy’s grandparents assaulted Lele for long time, without distinguishing the right or wrong. Pan rushed into the “war zone”, fighting back for Lele. Pan’s heroic action did not brought justice for Lele. Instead ,Pan got ten-day detention, and payment of other party medical expense. Pan was locked in detention center, and two young kids were in neighbor’s care. Lele and Xiaoxiao missed their father at night. All they can do was making a puppet like their father, watching over them during the night…
Director’s Statement:
Every morning, when I wake up to find it is another new day, thrilling joy engulfs my heart, no matter it is rainy or shiny. A creek of happiness flows into my heart, with this realization of being alive; every night, when the younger boy sleeping in my arm, the softness of his small hands and feet and fatty tummy clings to me; when I wake up to pull up quilt for my boys, to smell their youthful body fragrance, to kiss their face lightly, a river of happiness influx over me, at the moments like these.
Occasionally, I fancy that the battered and sickened me could snuggle under the arm of a strong man in the quiet night. I am happy with tears by this image of warm and sweet , even his body odor smelly; as a single father with two kids, I reap more happiness and gratification from the trivial daily life. This low budget film based on my real-life story, and acted by characters themselves.
The whole crew and me should like to share this film with audience with all our sincerity;
The divorce rate reaches nearly 50% in urban cities in China now, which means about 50% children grown-up in single family. The divorce could produce harmful impact on the fragile minds of young kids. “The childhood of lucky ones leads to wholesome life, The unlucky ones uses whole life to heal from their childhood” . Many adults with violence tendency came from single or unhappy families. As parents, wealthy or poor, should try best to create a harmonious environment for their children, so that the children could grow up with complete personality and self-confidence to face the dangerous world.
In the film, the ultimate question about life and death came out of 5-years old boy “Dad, when will you die”? Certainly, everyone is going to die, when to die is only uncertainly. Why one waste precious time to meaningless people and chaos, instead of accompany family and friends. Life is full of pain, but luckily, we are alive. “I love this life, even it is full of flaws” as the Japanese actress Kiki Kilin said.
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