What is the meaning of a city? ,People's City·Film and Television Appointment|Films and Film Festivals
"Shanghai and Hong Kong are the few places where movies can be named after their cities. The relationship between the city and the movie is a process of mutual definition. The city itself gave birth to Shanghai films. We can find many places related to movies in the city. These movies also allow us to better imagine the past, present and future of this city." At the "Integration and Symbiosis: Film and City Forum" held on June 18, Sha Dan, program planner of the China Film Archive and curator of the Beijing Film Festival, spoke from the perspective of an observer and professional film research scholar about the unique charm of Shanghai, a city of film, and the mutually supportive relationship between film creation.
Photo taken by Zhong Han at the "Integration and Symbiosis: Film and City Forum"
At the 10th anniversary event of Shanghai University Shanghai Vancouver Film School held on the same day, Shanghai Vancouver Film School President and Director Jia Zhangke thanked Shanghai for its film history in empowering film education, "Here, I fell in love with film education."
Early in the morning of June 7, five hours before the ticket rush for the Shanghai Film Festival, Shadan helped promote the festival on his social media account "Qi Ai Ge Ge" and recommended this year's most rare movies to the audience: "Every year I take annual leave to come to the Shanghai Film Festival to exchange and learn. The biggest difficulty at the moment is that young people lack the motivation to go to the cinema. How to get the audience, especially young audiences, to return to the cinema is a problem we all have to face together."
At the Shanghai Film Festival, Shadan paid special attention to the restoration of old films such as "Goddess" and "Princess Iron Fan". Among them, "Princess Iron Fan" was restored by the China Film Archive and a Shanghai company, and made its world premiere at this year's Shanghai Film Festival. "If this film is shown in Beijing, it will have academic meaning, but when it is shown in Shanghai, it feels like a movie is coming home, because this film itself was created in Shanghai. When watching Ruan Lingyu's "Goddess" at the Majestic Theater, I also have a different feeling when I think of this as where she grew up." In his opinion, different city cultures will bring different viewing cultural experiences, which also makes the Shanghai Film Festival and the Beijing Film Festival have different viewing tastes.
Most of the old Chinese movies preserved in the China Film Archive were shot in Shanghai. Shanghai not only exists in the images of old movies, but also in the future imagination of science fiction movies. In the film "Her" screened at this year's Science Fiction Film Week, the scene of Shanghai's Lujiazui appeared and used it as the image of a future city. In the view of director Luo Dong, many movies like to be filmed in Shanghai because the city has a different inclusiveness and diversity than other big cities, so the stories produced are more diverse. "Shanghai gives movies many possibilities."
Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival, believes that coming to Shanghai is a wonderful experience. Here you can see the historical buildings from the 1930s and 1940s, the earth-shaking changes that have taken place in China since the reform and opening up, and the sense of the future. "Shanghai is a great movie city, and like London and Paris, it is a place where cultures blend." He believes that film is a unique art form. It is filmed and produced in the city, and it is also a symbolic image that can represent the city. As many people say, walking on the streets of New York is like walking in a movie, and Shanghai in June also brought similar feelings to audiences from all over the world who attended the film festival. "Movies tell the story of the city, and also help us think and imagine the future of the city."
"There are 461 films at the Shanghai Film Festival. As long as you have time, you can watch them from morning to night. This is the cultural inclusiveness and charm of the Shanghai Film Festival." Shadan came to Shanghai four times this year and went to Huanghe Road to check in. "I didn't notice it when I passed by before, but after "Fang Hua" became popular, I had to go and see the relationship between the real scene and the film and television."
This year's film festival launched a city walking route, inviting audiences to appreciate the beauty of the city while watching movies. Shadan believes that Shanghai is a cinematic city. After seeing the city scenes in movies, audiences will go out to the streets to find them in person, and they will discover the potential flow relationship between the screen and the outside world, and they will have respect for the city itself. "Good movies can make the charm of the city flow better and spread to the world."
On the afternoon of June 18, the screening of "French Hot Pot" ended, and the theater burst into applause as usual. The director of the film was Chen Yingxiong, the chairman of the Golden Goblet Awards jury. He and his wife Chen Yanxi, who designed the costumes for the film, appeared on the stage to accept the audience's greetings again. It was time for lunch, but the audience still waited for his post-screening exchange session. He smiled and said, "Thank you all for coming to the movie. I hope you are not too hungry." His wife added, "This is the first time our film has been screened in China." She was wearing a bright lemon yellow dress, and Chen Yingxiong, who was wearing a white shirt, trousers and a black vest, seemed to intentionally echo the main visual poster in the background. Together, they blended into the light and shadow of the "City of Movies".
The on-site exchanges were lively. Although Miss Sun, a citizen, did not get the opportunity to ask questions, she still gained a lot from the whole event. "The film festival is not only a film festival, but also a gathering of movie fans. For me, the experience of watching movies at home and in the theater is completely different. Experiencing laughter and tears with hundreds of people is a ritual that must be experienced every year and is irreplaceable."
Director and artist Yang Fudong watched "A History of Violence in the Philippines" at the Shanghai Film Festival last year and found that people were still patient enough for a seven-hour movie. This year, he watched "The Road". There were laughter in the theater, and he could feel people crying around him from the corner of his eyes, which made him feel that "this is life". When the film ended, the audience applauded together, and they couldn't help but get excited.
Professional filmmakers feel about the Shanghai Film Festival by enjoying a good atmosphere for watching movies, as well as the enthusiasm and tacit understanding of citizens in participating in cultural activities. "I like the audience at the Shanghai Film Festival." Novelist and documentary director Chen Danyan found that in the past, when the credits came out after each movie, everyone wanted the "black screen" to end quickly. However, as a film director, she realized the great efforts made by each name on the "black screen" after filming "The Direction of the Sava Flow". "At the Shanghai Film Festival, what moved me most was that everyone quietly watched the last five minutes of the black screen. Even if there was no post-screening, they would applaud for it, which was a great respect for the filmmakers." She believes that the film festival is not only about watching good movies, but also about cultivating the audience's respect for filmmakers.
Shanghai Wenying Film Studio, which aims to cultivate international film and television creative talents, has produced a large number of filmmakers on the "black screen". Last year, the film "Looking for Her", directed and written by Chen Shizhong, an alumnus of the Film Production Department of Shanghai Wenying Film Studio, and created by the Wenying team, won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Shanghai Film Festival, which made Jia Zhangke very pleased. "The sound department of "Flowers" is almost entirely participated by our alumni. The Shanghai Film Festival award won by Chen Shizhong is called "Best Artistic Contribution", which is awarded to film technology. The staff behind this film are all our alumni. The recognition of the Shanghai Film Festival has also strengthened our school policy and made us become an academy that cultivates international creative talents."
The 10th anniversary event of Shanghai Vancouver Film School
"Metropolitan film festivals should listen to the audience's voice, bring the movies that the audience wants to see, and have the ability to discover and lead." Shadan believes that there are many unpopular films at the film festival. They were originally unknown, but through the film festival, their charm can be magnified and some possibilities for the future can be found. At this year's Shanghai Film Festival, he paid the most attention to the "New Ecology of Film Distribution" forum, which invited many well-known filmmakers to analyze the current status and trends of domestic and foreign distribution, explore the characteristics and advantages of differentiated distribution mechanisms such as "line, audience, and region", and jointly look forward to a refined, diversified, and market-oriented new ecology of film distribution.
“The role of a film festival is to find new forces that can be put on the market from the films screened. The enthusiastic participation of the audience may make future investors and distributors more confident in entering the film market. Film festivals not only have functions for the industry itself, but also play a role in mutual learning among civilizations. Participating in film festivals is an important job for curators. There are many challenges in this line of work and it is very hard, but being able to do this makes people feel very happy.” Shadan’s speech won warm applause.
