Watching Chen Danyan's "vastness in front of her desk", "The Direction of Savoy Flows" appears at the Shanghai Film Festival. Chen Danyan | Movie | The Direction of Savoy Flows
"I'm going to the Shanghai Film Festival to show a movie! It's like a dream. Duras said that the audience for a film by the author is 6000 people, and 6000 people don't want to escape two hours of life in the dimness of the cinema. Which of the 6000 people will I encounter in the cinema in June? They should be like the readers in my mind, right? I'm looking forward to seeing their faces." In May, the Shanghai International Film Festival announced the screening list, and writer Chen Danyan wrote excitedly. On the evening of June 11th, Chen Danyan's first documentary feature film "The Direction of Sava Flowing" was screened for the first time at the Shanghai Film Festival, and the new director finally met his audience.
"The Direction of Sava's Flow" is not only Chen Danyan's debut feature film, but also the first co production film between China and Serbia. In 2014, with a love for the Hazar Dictionary, Chen Danyan went to the hometown of the novel author Milolad Pavi ć in Serbia and compiled his observations and reflections along the way into "Dream Catching Hometown - Geographical Reading".
In the exhibition hall on the third floor of Sinan Bookstore, "The Broadness in front of the Desk - Chen Danyan Picture Exhibition" tells the story of the birth of a movie. Chen Danyan selected 20 photos from the tens of thousands left by her travels in Yugoslavia, showcasing her work style in directing "The Direction of Sava Flowing". Before the Shanghai International Film Festival, "The Direction of Sava's Flow" had two small-scale screenings at Sinan Book Company. Chen Danyan said that Sinan Bookstore is her dream bookstore, with a literary and scholarly atmosphere. "Here, I would like to share with readers a writer's work style and experiences when making movies.".
The job of a writer is to write at a desk and express one's feelings about the world. But if a writer cannot see a vast world at their desk, measure it with their feet, feel it with their skin, examine it with their eyes, and laugh or cry with their heart, it is impossible to depict it. Chen Danyan is a walking writer. Her 16 personal monologues connect this 93 minute documentary film.
The story of "The Direction of Sava Flows" is related to bookstores. Milan Kovic, the manager and editor in chief of the oldest bookstore in Serbia, Geca Kon, and the art curator Unos, both young and old, share the main storyline of Serbian intellectuals in the film. The English name of "The Storage" is "The Storage", and these concrete or abstract "warehouses" are scattered throughout the film. Milankovi ć taught Chen Danyan a Serbian word "Riznica", which refers to a warehouse where treasures are stored.
At its peak, the Geca Kon bookstore, which belonged to the Prusvita Publishing House, had thousands of stores. After the wave of privatization, it shrank to the point where only one store remained. Milankovi ć struggled and maintained Geca Kon's survival with pride, even though the bookstore was struggling to operate, he raised funds for the publication and printing of works for Ivo Andric, the first former Yugoslav writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Later, Geca Kon moved to the suburban warehouse where the rent was cheaper, but it was still unable to recover. A rainstorm in 2019 made the old books transported here from the 1930s to the 1970s completely obsolete. After the film was produced, Geca Kon was acquired by a private publishing company, and "The Direction of Sava's Flowing" became a tribute to it.
Like Milankovitch, the Mesozoic art curator Unos was unwilling to give up easily. When the contemporary art museum in the city became unsustainable, he had to rely on odd jobs as a wedding planner to make a living. But as long as he has a little extra money, Unos plans an art exhibition related to the theme of the former Yugoslavia. Ten years after the closure of the Museum of Contemporary Art, a temporary exhibition that only lasted 24 hours was able to be held at the flower market. Unos struggled to retrieve the most expensive collection from the dusty warehouse: a police car patrolling the streets of the city in the 1970s.
"The Direction of Sava Flows" reminds Zhu Feng, the president of the Shanghai Film Critics Society, of the Romanian old film "Danube Wave". "In fact, these two rivers are connected, geographically and historically, and both give us a stunning feeling.". In his view, "The Direction of Sava Flowing" is a film by Chen Danyan and a typical author and writer film. It is a rare film genre in Chinese film history, with its own unique character and tone.
On June 6th, Chen Danyan was awarded the highest national honor of Serbia, the Presidential Gold Medal. The award speech praised her for using literary works and film documentaries to help the Chinese people better understand Serbia. Her works were translated into Serbian and also helped the Serbian people better understand China - art crossed boundaries and connected Serbia and China together.
On June 17th, "The Direction of Sava Flowing" will also be screened in the "SIFF Rhapsody" section of the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the river will continue to flow and connect.
