"If 'The Last Lollipop' is the back of an era, then 'Bee Girl' is just coming right in." He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that in the context of rural revitalization, many urban people have "migrated" to the countryside, which is an ongoing and significant change of the times. After three years of silence after the release of the movie "The Last Lollipop" in 2018, director He Ku finally launched a new work, the documentary "The Bee Girl", which will be released nationwide on December 28. This documentary tells the story of a peking university graduate girl who has been beekeeping in the Wuling Mountains of Chongqing for four years.
According to He Kuo, the drama version of "Bee Girl" was renamed "Mountain Chaser", the content is more abundant, in addition to the story of Peking University Girls, it also shows the group portrait of the entire rural entrepreneurship, "Mountain Chaser" will be launched in January 2022.
He Ku, in fact, is not a director from a class, his fame stems from a high-scoring documentary - "The Last Lollipop". In 2016, after he transferred from the army, he walked into Chongqing Zili Lane to "worship the teacher" and became a "stick" (porter), personally experiencing and filming the survival of the "stick" group in Chongqing under the change of the times. After the launch of this series of documentaries, it was a great success and aroused national attention and heated discussion.
In 2018, He Kuo launched a film version of "The Last Lollipop" and released it nationwide.
However, after becoming popular, He Ku did not embark on the road of "hot director", but "disappeared" for three years. According to him, the documentary "Bee Girl" was originally planned to be filmed for a year, but as a result, it became "Mountain Chaser"...
Now it has been filmed for three years, and it will continue to be filmed. For the years after the "Last Lollipop" fire, he said that it was a journey full of ups and downs, during which he almost couldn't shoot it many times, and finally survived with difficulty...
↑ The shooting scene in March this year
【New Works】
Filming "Peking University Girls Beekeeping in the Mountains"
Record the changes of the times with objectivity and calmness
" If "The Last Lollipop" is the back of an era, then "The Bee Girl" is just coming right in front of you. ”
After surviving three years, He Ku finally saw the dawn in the winter of 2021.
At noon that day, he sat in the small restaurant downstairs of Chongqing Daxigou Company, grilling rice while talking about the filming of "BeeKeeper Girl". He says everything is full of surprises, whether it's filming or the development of the story.
"It's a documentary, you can't control the ending." He Ku said that at the beginning, he just wanted to shoot an entrepreneurial story, but when he patted it, he unconsciously paid attention to the fate of a group of characters. So I originally planned to shoot for one year, but I ended up shooting for three years, and now I can't stop.
"Peking University girls keep bees in the mountains, there are gimmicks, there are points to see, and there are typical marks of the times." He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that this was all he could think of at the beginning of the shooting, but more content and meaning were discovered during the shooting process.
Like his filming Of The Last Lollipop, those little people hidden in the corners of the city, as soon as their stories unfold, they clearly mark the era. The first generation of migrant workers who poured into the city, with low education and no long skills, grasped their own destiny in the wave of reform and opening up, and their diligence, tenacity and silence gave people a touch and made people sigh.
↑ In March this year, He Kuo was on the street of Pengshui, filming the scene
"I just want to use the stories of this group of people to record the changes of the times." He Ku said that beekeeping for girls at Peking University is a main line, and through this clue, the ecological and entrepreneurial groups of the entire countryside can be discovered.
But it is clear that compared with the first generation of migrant workers, the identity of this group is more complex and the story is richer. He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that during the filming process, he met many people from big cities in the Wuling Mountains, who came with dreams and frustrations... Some come to start a business, some come to get a job, some come to hide from debt...
"I want to document a big event, be objective and calm." He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that he tried to avoid grand narratives and use stories and details to show the character and characteristics of the times.
↑ Stills
【Difficulty】
Lend money to the subject and fall into a "triangle debt"
Chinese New Year's Eve night with the producers to hide debts
- "Documentaries are not good for financing, the market is not good, and investors don't know what you want to shoot." ”
The tidbits after the end of the film show some of the difficulties of the filming process.
On that Chinese New Year's Eve night in 2020, He Ku and producer Zhang Jing went to find the subject Long Qiqi to ask for a debt, and the two people shivered in the cold wind at the entrance of the village, but they did not dare to get in the car to turn on the air conditioner, because they had no money to refuel.
He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that it was his most difficult period, because he lent money to Long Qi, he fell into a "triangular debt", and he was still hiding in the mountains in his twenties. Because he promised to repay the money at the end of the year, Chinese New Year's Eve night did not dare to go home, only to find Long Qi's money to repay.
"You can't see death and not save." He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that Long Qiqi was unable to repay the bank loan at that time, and he and several of his guarantors were facing the seizure of the mortgaged house. In this case, He Kuo not only lent the crew's money to Long Qi, but also borrowed a sum of money from a friend to lend him.
In the movie, Long Qi's situation of hiding debts is recorded everywhere, and later when he learns that his abandoned mountain villa is about to be demolished, he suddenly feels that the opportunity to turn over has come. He Ku also thought that Long Qi's difficulties were only temporary, and as soon as the mountain villa was demolished, he immediately had money, so he assured him to lend the money. As a result, the demolition work progressed slowly, not only was the crew in trouble, but the money borrowed from friends could not be returned on time.
What made He Bitter cry and laugh was that that night, he and Zhang Jing finally waited for Long Qi's arrival at the mouth of the village. He came in a furious rage, not only without money, but also ate the only dry food in the car.
The debt did not arrive in the end, and after the beginning of 2021, He Ku had to find a way to raise funds. Helped people shoot two promotional films, got hundreds of thousands of yuan in remuneration and re-entered the filming.
↑ Stills, after the bees are raised, the beehives are burned
"Documentaries are not good for financing, the market is not good, and investors don't know what you want to shoot." He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that when the project started, a trusted friend gave a small amount of investment, and the rest of the funds were supported by their own savings. But at that time, it was only a budget for one year, and I didn't expect to shoot for three years.
A photographer of the crew told the Red Star News reporter that at the end of last year, after the protagonist of "The Last Lollipop", Lao Huang, fell and injured, He Bi went to visit Lao Huang's daughter's home, in order to save money, he could only stay in a small hotel in the town for a few tens of yuan a night that night, and several people squeezed a room.
Until a few months ago, Zhang Jing, a producer who was also a demobilized soldier and had worked with He Ku for many years, had to go to work at a company. Before leaving, the bitter fans learned about the difficulties of the crew from Zhang Jingna and expressed their willingness to invest. Zhang Jing breathed a sigh of relief, and he finally plucked up the courage to tell He Ku that now that the financial difficulties were solved, he could leave.
But He Ku eventually gave up these investments, and he took the initiative to tell investors that now that even the producers are gone, don't invest any more money in. "I don't dare ask for these investments, I'd rather borrow money," he said. ”
【History】
The filming process was as arduous as the story
I broke off contact with many friends and almost couldn't shoot it many times
" It's been an adventurous journey, three years of hardship, and I don't know what else to come..."
The film is about to be released, and He Que hides his excitement, "Regardless of the box office, I have at least completed my own work." ”
He Kuo said that these three years of shooting were the most difficult period in his life. In addition to falling into financial difficulties, he has also experienced the danger of "almost not being able to shoot" many times. Once, because of a disagreement with the protagonist Peking University girl Arwen, the two sides had a fierce dispute, the crew loaded the equipment into the car, fortunately, at the last moment the two sides "tried to talk again".
↑ Stills, Peking University Girl Pan Yiwen
The development of the story also determines the process of shooting. He Kuo believes that like Arwen's entrepreneurial story, his own shooting has the same hardships. I thought there was an ending, but it turned out to be an accident again and again... He Kuo said that he was dragged into the abyss by the suspenseful story, and the cost of shooting could only rise again and again.
He bitterly laughed at himself, shooting for three years, which is equivalent to three years of "social death". He rushed to the shooting site of the documentary every day, many friends no longer contacted, and even friends called him and sent messages, and he also muted the mobile phone on the scene and could not reply in time.
Not long ago, in order to cut the film, he and his team retreated in the mountains for more than a month. Even recently, when I returned to my company in Daxigou, Chongqing, I was still busy every day after 12 p.m. The small restaurant downstairs became their canteen, and many times the owner had to bring the meal upstairs.
↑ Chongqing Daxigou company downstairs small restaurant has become a canteen
He Ku told the Red Star News reporter that in addition to "The Bee Girl", he is also filming another theme, but there is no release plan at present. "Making a documentary is a very energy-consuming thing, and you have to endure loneliness." He Ku said that the longer the cycle and the more materials, the better works can be cut.
The film is about to be released, and he hopes to convey his apologies to his friends through reporters, saying that he wants to say thank you to many friends who care about him, and he also wants to say "I'm sorry" to friends who have been sloppy before.
In addition, he also told the Red Star News reporter that the episodic version of "The Shepherd Girl" will also be officially launched in January 2022. He admitted that due to time constraints in the movie version, many wonderful stories have not unfolded, so he does not dare to expect too much from the movie box office. Instead, the episodic version, he is confident of getting a better response.
"This is to adapt to the current need for transmission." He Ku said that "Mountain Chaser" is an innovation, launching the documentary in the form of a medium video, each episode is 10 minutes, a total of no less than 60 episodes, and the post-production has now exceeded half.
He Ku revealed that the reason why "Bee Girl", which was originally planned to be filmed for one year, was filmed for three years was because it became "Mountain Chaser" while filming. The story of this group of people continues, and the shooting will continue, and it can't stop. If "BeeKeeper Girl" is the story of a Peking University girl who has been keeping bees in the mountains for four years, "Mountain Chaser" is a group portrait of urban people "migrating to the countryside", with richer content and more tension. "This is a film full of positive energy, but the stories and fates of these little people in the film are so real and magical in the details."
For the years after "The Last Lollipop" became popular, he said that it was an adventurous journey, three years of hardship, and he did not know what else to go through in the future...
↑The episodic version of "Mountain Chaser" will be launched in the form of a medium video
Red Star News reporter Yang Ling photo report Some of the pictures are from the interviewees
Edited by Yu Manga
(Download Red Star News, there are prizes for the newspaper!) ）