Source: People's Daily - Fujian Channel
People's Daily Fuzhou, December 14 (Qian Jiahe) Along the Silk Road, how far can Chinese culture go? A few days ago, the documentary "Road, Foreign Youth Look at China" was screened at the 8th Silk Road Film Festival. As a typical case of cross-cultural exchange in the "Look at China" project, the film uses the core concept of "road" to show the rich, three-dimensional and diversified Chinese culture through the perspective of 6 foreign youths.
The film shows the Singaporean director embarking on the road to find his roots in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, on the first day of the first lunar month, and his relatives "crossing the ocean" to meet happily; Russian youths go to Daliangshan, Sichuan, to record the road to prosperity driven by the development of poor mountainous areas driven by green-skinned "small slow cars", and the carriage "grazing" turns into a magical realism scene; Spanish youth visit Chinese cities and towns, enjoy the travel roads of various bridges, and trace the "historical memory" of traditional architecture...
"Road, Foreign Youth Look at China" post-screening meeting scene. People's Daily Photo by Qian Jiahe
"The 'road' in the film is not only a physical construction of reality, but also a cultural metaphor." Luo Jun, director of the film and vice president of the Institute of Chinese Culture and International Communication of Beijing Normal University, said at the meeting after the film that this "road" is the road for Chinese culture to go to the world.
So, how do filmmakers open up the "road" for Chinese culture to go to the world? That night, in the "Filmmaker Dialogue" activity held in Fuzhou Sanfang Seven Alleys, Luo Jun and "Hear the Light", "University", "Little Stars at the Fingertips!" Young directors who were shortlisted for the "Golden Silk Road" Best Documentary Award talked about "cross-cultural communication in documentaries".
The scene of the "Filmmaker Dialogue" event. Intern Photo by Ma Siyang
Luo Jun said that to open up the "road" of Chinese culture to the world, it cannot be limited to the one-way transmission of "going out" or "bringing in", but also through the in-depth cooperation of young Chinese and foreign filmmakers, cultural integration can be realized. Wang Hong, director of "Hearing the Light", believes that in the process of joint creation, China and foreign countries have gradually adapted to each other's cultural underlying logic, which can make the cultural connotation and technical means in the documentary intertwined in a short period of time.
"From the perspective of human beings, whether it is the exploration of nature, the exploration of emotions, or the appreciation of a series of artistic expressions such as music and fine arts, our perception of human nature can find similarities within different cultural systems; and audio-visual as a language also has no borders." In the view of Wang Jing, director of "University", to promote cross-cultural communication in documentaries, it is not only necessary to find themes of common concern of human beings, but also to make good use of such an international language as audio-visual.
Little Stars at Your Fingertips! Director Xu Chuang also said that although the culture and language systems of different countries are not the same, the values of human nature are very similar. Therefore, only by starting from sincere emotions and specific stories, allowing the audience to establish a connection with the story itself and produce emotional interaction in watching the film, and realize the realization of seeing the big me with the small self, seeing the nation with the big me, and seeing the world with the nation, can we break through the language barrier and cultural gap. "What makes me cry, ecstatic, get up in the cinema to cheer and scream must be the most authentic plot and emotional expression under the surface of the documentary." 」 Xu Chuang said.