Many people are very familiar with the classic animation "Three Monks", but the predecessors of Xu Jingda, the director of this animation, are very unfamiliar, without Xu Jingda, the process of Chinese animation to the world may be more slow.
01. People who open the door of Chinese animation to the West
Nicknamed Ada by his predecessors in animation, Xu Jingda was born in 1934 and died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in 1987 at the age of 53.
The first time China participated in an international animation festival after the 1960s was in 1982, when it was attended by Ada and others.
In the context of that time, although Ada learned English from a young age, he did not dare to show that he understood English when communicating with international friends, and at that time, Chinese animation creators did not communicate directly with international friends.
For the next five years, Ada has been committed to creating Chinese animation with national characteristics, and because of his openness and proficiency in English, Ada has become an important figure in promoting Shanghai art films to the world.
In 1983, Ada became a judge at the Annecy International Animation Festival, and in 1985, Ada became the only Chinese member of the 22-member Executive Committee of the International Animation Association (ASIFA).
In 1986, Ada won the Award for Best Educational Film for "Thirty-Six Words" written in hieroglyphs for children. Since then, Ada has become more confident that Chinese animation will go international.
In 1987, Ada suddenly fell ill on the way to Beijing by train and died after being sent to the hospital.
In the last five years of his life, Ada opened the door of Chinese animation to world animation, and this cause was later continued by other animation predecessors, and the road of Chinese animation to the international world has never stopped.
02. Animation in which Ada participates
As a pioneer of Chinese animation, Ada participated in the production of many classic animations.
The first representative work of Chinese animation "Creating National Style", "Proud General", was set by Ada.
China's first ink animation "Little Tadpole Finds Mother", with Ada as the animator.
China's first color wide-screen animation "Nezha Noisy Sea", directed by Ada.
"Three Monks", which won the Best Art Film Award at the 1st Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Cinema, was directed by Ada.
Butterfly Spring, which won the China Ministry of Culture Outstanding Film Award, was co-directed by Ada and Chang Guangxi.
In addition, Ada participated in the production of "Super Soap", "Sanmao Wandering", "One Night in the Gallery", "Monkey Fishing Moon" and other animations, which have received high praise in the industry.
Unfortunately, Ada was unable to see the news that he persuaded the Shangmei factory to send domestic animators to cooperate with the West for the first time, the animation "Experimental Film Grand View" won an award at the 1987 Kannis Film Festival.
03. Conclusion
The history of chinese animation, and even the entire Asian animation development, is not too long, so whenever I see the deeds of these animation predecessors and see their contributions to the development of Chinese animation, I feel that they are not far away from themselves.
However, seeing the mainstream content of Chinese animation now, it feels very different from the original intention of the predecessors to produce animation.
Is the current mainstream animation really what we want to see?
Is the concept of animation creation in the last century really not important anymore?
Ada has pushed Chinese animation to the world, but we have let the content of world animation influence Chinese animation, and some of the current Chinese animation is really "Chinese animation"?