Recently, I saw a short documentary film in which the protagonist is the director's grandparents.
The short film switches between the two clues of grandparents, and it is impressive that when the two use the camera as a tool to talk about each other's divorce, their memories have many factual deviations.
When we really see through the short film that grandpa and grandma's very different attitudes to life today are largely shaped by past experiences, we have reason to believe that what they say is what they see and feel.
The rashomon-style truth is not only lamentable, but also makes people reflect on what is the truth of life.
At present, the field of public opinion is always tense, people are eager to take sides, eager to distinguish between black and white, eager to expose and expose, but the absolute truth and black and white, must exist?
In the old photos of my grandparents, I hid the love of that era.
This year, New Weekly and its video column "Outsider" launched a "hot" non-fiction short film call, and finally selected 5 excellent works from 361 works, and the short film mentioned at the beginning is one of them - "When You Are Old".
Director Yang Ren tells the story of his grandfather and grandmother impartially from a third-party perspective, captures the truth under the appearance of life in a participatory way, and the story is complete and warm, which makes many people impressed, and has a little more understanding and empathy for people.
On November 14th, New Weekly held a "hot" offline movie viewing meeting at Fuguang Bookstore in Guangzhou, and invited the final judges of the event - documentary filmmaker Jiang Nengjie, film critic Junwei, and Zhong Qingxuan, director of the award-winning work "Between Light and Darkness", to the scene to communicate with readers.
Jiang Nengjie mentioned that these outstanding films did not impress him with multi-professional technology, and even some short films had obvious shortcomings in editing, but the most important thing about the documentary was the story, which was the return to the person itself.
These stories have different themes, but they all turn the lens to ordinary people in ordinary life, some are relatives around them, and some are marginalized people and socially vulnerable groups.
They tell the human story of this era, present the complexity of life itself, and make people truly feel the existence of life.
Guangzhou "hot sound" offline movie viewing meeting scene
It is they who are recorded, and it is us
While the fates of all individuals are very different, they have similar characteristics behind them. Real life always has a lot in common, which is why good stories resonate with many people.
A few years ago, Qingxuan participated in a public welfare lecture event for accessible movies, and after the event, the moviegoers left one after another, and a couple attracted her attention: they sat by the window, sharing a pair of headphones, the boy was fully blind, the girl was semi-blind.
This somewhat special couple made Qingxuan a little curious, so, using the camera as a medium, she gradually entered their lives. This is the origin of the creation of "Between Light and Darkness".
Real life is between light and dark.
But in the end, the short film presents a love story that is not simply a pair of visually impaired people, but its content is broader and more complex.
As a semi-blind person, the girl Congyang's world is blurry but not completely dark, and she wanders between light and dark worlds, with an awkward identity. Qingxuan mentioned that Congyang is a very free and vague image, but at the same time, she has a particularly solid foundation that women want to fight for the right to love.
In the short film, Congyang's heart is presented delicately and movingly by the camera, allowing people to see a vivid and powerful female figure.
Even if the trapped beast is surrounded by life, Congyang has his own persistence.
The means of transportation of modernity are an important component of the film, and Congyang wanders between the three cities, chasing love and finding himself. This also carries the thinking of the main creator: transportation can allow people to migrate from place to place, "but which place is the real foothold, which place is the real belonging, this is a question worth everyone's thinking." ”
Film critic Jun Wei saw an inertial contradiction in contemporary Chinese society in his parents' opposition to Congyang's love and marriage - "Chinese love stories and Chinese-style family affection are often torn and entangled in a huge concept and consciousness." ”
In recent years, private family images have gradually been accepted in the public perception, and the sense of existence has increased. Family imaging is the starting place for many video workers, and this time we have also collected a lot of creations around "family" and "family".
As a family image that records the present and past of grandpa and grandmother, "When You Are Old" resonates with a complete story and a narrative with temperature, reminding many people of the elderly in their own homes.
The old man's "advice" is also an understanding of the first half of his life.
Director Yang Ren mentioned that when he approached the two old people through images, he gradually discovered that behind the most common ordinary words and actions, careful exploration can always find many stories.
Loved ones are often our "most familiar strangers", and the short film may also remind the audience to sit down and listen to their stories, to understand why they are who they are, and to explore their origins, "to understand who they are and how to love people".
In this world, there are many things that you don't know
In addition to "finding yourself" in the video, what cannot be ignored is the social value of documentaries. At the scene, Junwei mentioned that the social nature of documentaries is what he values more, and he looks forward to "broader expression".
For example, his first "Unmarried Mother" presents the survival status of unmarried mothers in different situations from the perspective of three women, and brings the plight of the unmarried mother group to the audience.
"Invisible" unmarried mothers often face the dilemma of isolation and helplessness.
In fact, as early as 2016, China has issued regulations, after paternity testing, allow children born out of wedlock to register, but in the short film can be seen that in the traditional concept of society, children born out of wedlock are still blocked from going to the household registration, and unmarried mothers are not welcomed, side-eyed, discriminated against, and the deepest harm even comes from their relatives.
Not being understood is the norm in the life of unmarried mothers.
In the era of big data statistics for trivial things, There is no data statistics on "unmarried mothers" in China. The "unmarried" group has been neglected for too long, and "Unmarried Mother" is a voice.
We need to pay more attention to marginalized groups, and we need to reflect on some inherent social concepts.
Behind each name, there may be a not-so-easy story.
"In the end, the film not only pays attention to people, but also pays attention to life", Jiang Nengjie commented on "Unmarried Mother". At the scene, he encouraged creators to pay attention to social issues and use images to make a sound.
As a documentary worker, recording the truth and speaking out for suffering has always been what Jiang Nengjie is doing. For example, he spent 8 years filming the documentary "Miners, Grooms, Pneumoconiosis", giving voice to China's huge but silent pneumoconiosis workers.
This documentary caused a sensation, because it could not be released, and there was no publicity fund, Jiang Nengjie squatted in Douban to send resources to each netizen who "wanted to see", which also made him once dubbed "network disk director".
Through this film, he hopes that more people can pay attention to the pneumoconiosis group and also cause social action.
Before they were overwhelmed by life, they were just ordinary people with a taste for life. /"Miners, Grooms, Pneumoconiosis"
In addition to exploring social topics, the documentary also shows "another life".
The short film "Banma's Choice" takes the confusion and choices of Tibetan youth as an incision, presenting the unique humanistic environment of Tibetan areas. The unique language, eating habits, and daily grazing routines of the locals are all brought to life on camera, opening up a very different way of life for the audience.
As Jiang Nengjie said, in addition to its social anthropological value, the short film also tells a wonderful story. Back home, or stay in the city? Ban Ma's confusion also exists among many young people in China, resonating with people and at the same time feeling more substitutionary.
The expectations of the elders also invisibly put pressure on Banma.
Speak up for the warm, vigorous vitality
During the reader exchange session, a documentary enthusiast shared her story. She mentioned that when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and she did not know what death represented, it was the documentary "The Human World" that lifted her up and completed her missing death education.
"It turns out that I am not the only one who has such confusion, and it turns out that I am not alone." In the face of documentaries that record everything on earth, many people have received some comfort in the moment of resonance.
In documentaries, we care for others and complete self-care, and the deeper resonance may always come from the perception of life force.
There is no need for a plot of ups and downs, life has its own vigorous power. For example, the short film "Highway Essay" records the cross-strait people-to-people exchanges in the public welfare activities with cycling as the carrier, and the lens delicately captures the vividness and liveliness of the teenagers, leaving a deep impression.
"'Highway Essays' is full of innocence and youthfulness."
In addition to the five works selected in the final selection, the documentary short films collected this time are rich and diverse, such as "After Dusk" focuses on the social issues of remarriage of middle-aged and elderly people, and "Ulbosen" presents the deep-rooted concept of son preference behind the phenomenon of "ZhaoDi", which is a good theme.
In 361 films, those real and enthusiastic living beings have a touching energy.
"Numbness is a wall that obscures the truth." /"The Human World"
In 2020, "Hot Sound" appeared as a young IP of the "China Video List", understanding the youth world in the video in a more trendy way, loving life, and speaking warmly.
Also since last year, New Weekly has launched a new documentary video column - "Outsider", in the form of a micro-documentary, focusing on humanistic and social issues with a degree of discussion, so that more people can see the possibility of "breaking the game".
This year, New Weekly and Outsiders launched the first season of "Hot Sound" call, we are moved by the details of life is the most sincere, but also happy to find that many partners have long been together;
In 2022, "Hot Sound" looks forward to attracting more diverse and outstanding creators to participate in richer forms and more meaningful content, and build a bridge between works and audiences.
See you next year!
Source: China Net Entertainment