Documentary films on the theme of intangible cultural heritage have gradually become a boom

Guangming Daily reporter Niu Mengdi

On January 8, the intangible cultural heritage documentary film "Tiangong Suzuo" held a special screening event at the China Film Archive, attracting nearly 500 spectators to watch the film. After the screening of the film and the exchange between the creators and the audience, the silk reeling artists from Suzhou guided the audience to experience the practical experience and feel the subtlety of Suzhou's traditional silk reeling process and the excitement of Suzuo's traditional culture. The fresh fusion of watching documentary films on the theme of intangible cultural heritage and experiencing the handicraft skills of intangible cultural heritage made the audience deeply impressed by the intangible cultural heritage.

In recent years, more and more creators have turned their creative horizons to China's excellent traditional culture, resulting in a large number of well-made, elegant and widely influential masterpieces, and intangible cultural heritage documentary films have become one of the active forces.

Stills of the intangible cultural heritage documentary film "Tiangong Suzuo" Information picture

It has become an important image support for cultural inheritance

At present, the documentary film on the theme of intangible cultural heritage shows China's rich and colorful intangible cultural heritage from different angles and focuses, collects and retains a large number of precious technical details, technological processes and inheritance stories, and has become an important image support for the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

The episodic version of the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" became popular on the Internet, becoming a rare "phenomenon-level" work in the documentary, allowing more young people to turn their attention to the Palace Museum and notice and fall in love with traditional Chinese culture. Subsequently, the documentary film "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" was launched in the strong voice of the audience, which took time as the main axis, and told the different life of the cultural relics conservator with a new story line and a realistic perspective. The breaking of the circle of the documentary film "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" has set off a wave of creative upsurge, and more documentary films showing intangible cultural heritage skills, telling the stories of craftsmen, and promoting Chinese civilization have come one after another.

The documentary film "Brilliant Flame" focuses on showing the portraits of Non-Genetic Chinese People. The film has filmed a total of nearly 150 non-hereditary inheritors in China, from chai rice oil and salt to gold, silver, copper and iron, or the four treasures of the study room, which not only carries the depth and thickness of thousands of years of skill inheritance, but also exudes the calm and openness of daily life.

The documentary film "Tiangong Suzuo" is based on the traditional crafts of Suzhou, from which 9 typical Suzuo crafts such as lanterns, nuclear carvings, Song Jin, and Ming-style furniture are extracted, telling the ingenuity stories of 12 representative intangible cultural heritage inheritors. The film uses a delicate lens language to present the craft characteristics of a number of intangible cultural heritage of mankind, such as mulberry silk weaving and traditional wooden structure buildings, showing the ingenuity and beauty of the intangible cultural heritage in detail, and also conveying the exquisiteness, philosophy and temperature contained in the craftsmanship.

Whether it is repairing cultural relics, embroidering brocade, carving jade, playing the guqin, or interpreting ancient and modern legends under the colorful oil painted faces, documentary films delicately engrave these ancient cultures that have been precipitated with the imprint of time into sound and painting with vivid, wonderful and peaceful narratives.

Become an important carrier of the craftsman spirit in the new era

The strength of intangible cultural heritage documentary films is not only to display the ingenious intangible cultural heritage with delicate lens language, but also to reflect the attitude and values of contemporary Chinese through the story of "people" who pass on the art, and embody the spirit of Chinese craftsmen in the new era.

Wang Xiaowen, the inheritor of the lantern in "Tiangong Suzuo", who is more than seventy years old and still intoxicated with creation, said: "There are only two kinds of lamps in the world, and when people hang outside, they will still be extinguished; what they give to themselves is always lit there." Although he is old and no longer suitable for too delicate work, but as soon as he starts Su Lantern, Wang Xiaowen seems to be a hot-blooded teenager, "I still want to give it a fight, at least let the children see what the real Su Lantern craftsman looks like, what the ultimate Su Lantern looks like." The ingenious story of "choosing one thing, staying a lifetime" is touching, and what shocks and resonates the audience even more is the ideal of life that constantly climbs and seeks transcendence. Creating fine products in perseverance and nurturing ingenuity in silence, the film is full of emotional pen and ink, writing their plain and extraordinary intangible lives.

In the intangible cultural heritage documentary films, not only are people entangled with the "grinding and entanglement" of art, but also people hold hands and inherit from people. The inheritance of teachers and apprentices has always been the essence of the protection and development of intangible cultural heritage. From selection, cultivation to graduation, it is a long and solid process, from which many sour, sweet and bitter life stories and life philosophies of ups and downs can be reflected.

"The power of craftsmanship comes from outside of craftsmanship." Sun Zengtian, director of "Tiangong Suzuo", shared his creative experience, "The so-called 'technology is also close to the Tao', the creator not only pays attention to the 'skill' of the craft, but also pays attention to the 'Tao' behind the 'skill', which is the spirit of craftsmanship, but also covers culture, emotion and philosophy, and is related to social, economic and contemporary changes. "Such a creative idea means new angles, new concerns, and naturally there will be new images.

It has become an effective way for the world to understand intangible cultural heritage

"On the one hand, young people are reluctant to learn, and on the other hand, teachers and masters of traditional crafts are mostly in their fifties and sixties, and it is difficult for them to integrate into the modern model." The problem of new and old inheritance described in "Tiangong Suzuo" is almost a realistic dilemma in the inheritance of most intangible cultural heritage. Yao Huifen, the representative inheritor of Su embroidery at the national level, has high requirements for apprentices, and she hopes that apprentices will not only regard Su embroidery as a survival skill, but also adhere to it as a lifelong love. The father and son of the Xiangshan Gang reflect the fierce collision between the new and old cultures, and the generations of craftsmen will withdraw from the historical stage with the changes of the times, how not to become the generation that ends, and become the common burden in the hearts of the inheritors.

There is a lack of successors, and naturally there are reasons such as the high level of intangible cultural heritage skills and the difficulty of becoming a teacher, but what cannot be ignored is the long-standing gap between young people and traditional culture. The excitement of intangible cultural heritage, the profundity of intangible cultural heritage, and the sense of interest and achievement in highly difficult skills are not understood and experienced by many people. In the view of Zhou Kui, associate professor at the Communication University of China, "documentary films show the skills and wisdom of intangible cultural heritage, tell the vivid stories of non-genetic inheritors, and open the door to intangible cultural heritage, so as to attract more young forces and superior resources to pay attention to intangible cultural heritage, love intangible cultural heritage, and participate in the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage."

"The camera records not only the intangible cultural heritage itself, it will also become a common memory of the Chinese." Ji Jun, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Arts and Media at Beijing Normal University, believes that "compared with other art forms, the information conveyed by films is more concentrated, vivid and easy for the audience to accept. Documentary films can record and preserve the craftsmanship details and master-apprentice inheritance of important intangible cultural heritage, become an important documentary resource, and can also use moving stories to spread intangible cultural heritage, carry forward the spirit of craftsmen, and become an important supporting force for promoting the inheritance and revitalization of intangible cultural heritage. ”

It is reported that this year's documentary film "Tiangong Suzuo" will also be released overseas, showing the world the era value of "Sugong" and "Suzuo", so that overseas audiences can further understand the spiritual core of traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, the documentary film "Looking for Intangible Cultural Heritage", which was listed by the Hebei Provincial Radio, Film and Television Bureau as a key support project for excellent documentaries in 2021, is also about to meet with the audience and has signed a European distribution right.

Guangming Daily ( 2022-01-17 09 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily