On the eve of the new crown, the mother of the former boyfriend went abroad to visit the small studio apartment where the two lived in Paris. Liu Chongyan originally thought that she would record this warm overseas reunion of mother and son, even if she heard about the contradictions of her previous native family.
Two years later, her short documentary "Is There a Pine on the Mountain" was shortlisted for this year's IDFA Short Film Competition. The film directly points to a phenomenon that domestic violence often inadvertently lingers and continues between generations.
Shortly after the film opens, a long shot records the next homely quarrel that eventually rises into the whole process of the son accusing and abusing the mother, and verbal violence almost turns into physical violence.
Through the confessions of mother and son, we know the old wounds of their families—the violence between father and son and between husband and wife. The director tried to listen to the voices of the two and reconcile the relationship between mother and son, until after sending away the mother, domestic violence appeared on him.
With its focus on domestic violence, the film was also selected as a theme focus on IDFA's Masculinity. This module seeks to examine masculinity from multiple perspectives, the controversial and vulnerable concept of "being a man".
This is a Chinese-language documentary that originally did not have a Chinese name. As shown in the stills, the faces of the protagonists are mosaicked, and the real voices are also processed, making them unexpectedly free from the ethical troubles of the documentary's past.
Stripped of faces and social identities, the director believes that "it can reach a larger area of audiences of different nationalities and see ourselves".
DOC had the opportunity to chat with "Is There a Pine on the Mountain" director Liu Chongyan and project executive Carina about their ideas. Domestic audiences had the opportunity to participate in the Beijing International Short Film Group Exhibition and HiShorts! I saw this short film at Xiamen Short Film Week.
Is There a Pine on the Mountain
Director: Liu Chongyan
Country/region of production: France
Duration: 37 minutes
Year: 2022
Video Synopsis:
The production of "Is There A Pine On The Mountain" began before the full outbreak of Covid-19 in continental Europe, it is a work created in the face of unforeseen developments, with a crisis that has not yet been revealed, and at the same time it has been expanded with the pandemic, similar to the situation of the director himself.
The story begins with an argument between the director's ex and his mother, with introspective statements from both sides as parallel content. In an autobiographical way, the film examines the vicious intergenerational continuation brought to the family by authoritarian totalitarianism centered on dangerous patriarchal ideology. Through a microscopic perspective, the director confronts the abusive relationship he has personally experienced to understand its root causes and explain related phenomena.
The film blurs the faces of the protagonists, and their true "identities" are obscured, making them a simple communication and communication container to guide the audience to connect with the archetypal characters related to themselves; But it's not hard for viewers to realize that this is a story about a Chinese woman visiting her son in Paris.
When some of our human traits (especially those brought about by facial appearance) cease to exist, and when the complex conflicts shown in the film end in the next round of abusive relationships, can we look at similar events through a more objective lens? Second, is there any possibility of changing seemingly immutable ideologies that have been passed down from generation to generation? This is also what the director wants us to think.
Director's Introduction:
Liu Chongyan: Born in Guizhou in 1995, she graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a bachelor's degree and later studied at the Studio Clément Cogitore/Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano Studio at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Drawing inspiration from her personal experiences, she creates works that span a variety of artistic expressions, including documentaries, non-fiction, video installations, paintings and sculptures.
IDFA short video interviews| see specific people under the mosaic
Written and interviewed: Tangled tea
Typesetting: Zhang Lao
As individuals: "We want to see ourselves"
DOC: The entire short film focuses on the "visit" of the former mother, and at the same time an observation of the inside of Chinese family relations, and the wonderful thing is that this space takes place in Paris, far away in Europe. Ask the director to talk about the origin of the film first.
Liu Chongyan: At the beginning, my ex told me that his mother was coming to visit us in Paris, and I proposed to live with us, (later thinking that this might be the first wrong beginning, and in the end it was a mess), and at that time, it was also so that everyone could save some money, then his mother could live with us. We have also discussed domestic violence in his native family very openly and openly before. So I said, can I shoot some footage when she comes to visit us in Paris.
In fact, the original intention was to shoot a very warm, foreign home image, and the result was... Completely unexpected.
Bump Mirror DOC: The biggest visual feature of the film is the mosaic processing and sound processing of the faces of the two characters. What are the privacy considerations on which these two processes are based?
Liu Chongyan: Out of privacy considerations, it is actually more about portrait rights. Domestic violence happened before the film was cut. Of course, the other party did not want me to be exposed. But the other part is that after two years, there is a distance, and the film can be revisited; There is an idea to deconstruct these elements.
As I analyzed earlier in my statement, when we remove one of the most fundamental elements that determine our social identity—the face—we pay more attention to the concept of communication itself. So not only out of privacy considerations, but also in line with my own research proposition discussion.
I come from a pure artistic background, and my main research at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts is communication. The way of thinking about processing images is still more purely art. This treatment is very suitable for the needs of an artistic project - if there are elements that are too complex or too concrete to affect the expression of an abstract concept, in this film is the discussion of the concept of violence, the analysis of the cycle of violence.
Who are the characters in that film? He could actually be anyone, because the purpose of the film is to ask, what constitutes toxic masculinity? The element of a figurative human face is degraded, and after this social identity is removed, it can reach a larger audience of different nationalities. Because each of us, every individual, can actually become the subject of violence. Every time we quarrel, no matter what kind of social relationship or intimacy we are in, when we are really red and irrational, all our violence will be expressed in words and physical contact. So this is also the main theme of the film, we must analyze the cycle of violence, find a solution, will there be a solution? This is the question raised by the film. We don't want to see who these people are, we want to see ourselves.
As an audience: "Because there are constraints, there are movies!" ”
DOC: What does the title "Is There A Pine On The Mountain" mean?
Liu Chongyan: The name of the predecessor, so that's why the film didn't Chinese name at the beginning, but later in HiShorts! , I still thought of a Chinese name "No Tree in the Mountain", which just echoed the English question-style name, thanks to the breadth and depth of the Chinese.
DOC: In most cases, the viewer can make up the character's expression under the mosaic based on the empirical brain. But there are exceptions, such as the one where the ex holds hands with his mother in the square, it seems that the mosaic treatment makes it impossible for the audience to see the expression of the character, what do you think of this limitation?
Liu Chongyan: It's good to have limitations, there were more young people in the audience during the first screening, everyone was laughing when they saw the scene of the kitchen quarrel, and the audience was older at the last screening, and most of the audience was over 50 years old, so they were very silent and very serious. The film has limitations, but what about the limitations of the audience? How can children who grow up in healthy families who have not experienced such patriarchal struggles personally understand that they (mother and son in the play) are actually victims of patriarchal society.
DOC: In 2020, there is a documentary called "Welcome to Chechnya", and the director's way of protecting the privacy of the characters is to change the face of each interviewee. If you can be exempt from other factors, have you considered other ways?
Liu Chongyan: That may really be the sentence... I hear at least once a week in this Fresnoy post-master's research institute that I am currently studying: Ce sont des contraintes qui créent le cinéma! ("Because there are constraints, there are movies!") ”）
DOC: Does the film have a target audience?
Liu Chongyan: No, for audiences all over the world, as long as you can find the right subtitle group.
Bump Mirror DOC: The long shot of the ex arguing with his mother in the film is the most obvious "violence" in the short film. The camera seems to be fixed there waiting for the event to happen, and your entry at the end of the long shot also indicates that the author is not behind the camera. Ask the director to introduce the before and after of this long shot, and the reason for choosing it (is there a shot of the same quarrel).
Liu Chongyan: No, that lens was indeed the only one that captured the explicit violence, because after the camera was set up, they all knew about the existence of the camera. In the film, you can also see that I went to the shower, and then I came back to enter the camera and found that they were arguing, and then intervened in the violence between them, so there is actually no same argument scene, and there are no other supplementary shots. It's just accidental, it's a coincidence, but it can be said that (it) sets the tone of the film, (it is) the lens that lays the foundation of the film.
DOC: Another special scene in the film is juxtaposed with the voice of a mother recalling her birth to her son and an intimate shot of her ex shaving in the bathroom. During the editing process, what inspired the combination of the two, and what did it mean?
Chongyan Liu: In the Q&A session, both Chinese and local audiences asked this question, which was the intimate footage of the mother recalling her experience when she gave birth to her son and the ex shaving inside. In fact, the shaving hair shot at that time was not in a project, I had a performance artwork before, and then invited him to do something, so it was actually closer to the feeling of a performance. But then when I was editing, I felt that "the body is skinned, and the parents are affected", and I felt that the two were actually talking about the same theme, so I cut it together.
As creators: We live in "relative" relationships
DOC: Actually, the identity of the director in the film is still relatively external, more like watching the two from the perspective of the camera. At the same time, like the position of "mother" in the relationship between father and son in the film, you are in a position to mediate the contradiction between mother and son, how do you think the different identities in creation and life reflect each other?
Liu Chongyan: It's too difficult, and I don't understand this question too much until now, because after all, that period was very depressing, and I didn't dare to fall asleep all night (before or after experiencing domestic violence).
Because my family of origin's background is not like this at all, it's hard for me to make a comparison. I also really, really had a hard time experiencing their pain. I can only be a bystander, I can only try to mediate like his mother. But this is really difficult to go for due to the division of power status between different family members due to toxic patriarchy...
I really can't feel their pain, I can only try to understand and then listen to the different points of view, which is why there are two different monologues in the film. But how different identities in creation and life should take care of each other, I think every artist has been reflecting on it, because in fact, such mutual care can change at any time and change very flexibly, and we should have the ability to exist in different postures at the same time.
DOC: Instead of documenting the domestic violence of your ex, the film returns to understanding what happens to a woman (her mother) in a patriarchal family. Ever thought about continuing to put your ex's domestic violence against you? Is the current version a call for girl helps girl?
Liu Chongyan: This question is a bit like a trap question, continuing the previous question on how different identities in creation and life reflect each other. However, the way this question is asked feels a bit of only paying attention to my identity as a director and ignoring me, as a victim of domestic violence in my life, it will be easier to be misread, and the questioner is encouraging me to consume privacy and consumer harm. But I can understand and understand this problem, and there is indeed something to think about.
I didn't think about putting my ex's domestic violence on me, first of all because I didn't have the opportunity to react in any way. Both domestic violence occurred suddenly, and in such a sudden domestic violence situation, I could not set up a tripod to photograph the other party's violence, because personal safety became the first concern. But other than that, I haven't thought about putting so-called "evidence" such as police report records or something, or making a diary, at least not yet. Just like the answers in other questions, although there is only this that I can show you, even if it is only this, my feelings about watching this movie and other audiences watching this movie are completely different. The film itself, whether it is presented or the original intention, is indeed controversial.
You can think of the movie as a call for girl helps girl, but what I'm looking forward to is LGBTQIA2S help LGBTQIA2S, humans help humanity, planet helps planet. Every region faces the problem of how to equalize rights, some areas are more acute, and some areas have deeper problems. I am a woman, we are women, but everyone is a different individual, and the problem has to come back to us. All those who have been treated unfairly must first resist themselves and reflect on why they have been treated unjustly and unfairly. We live in a "relative" relationship, and all relationships actually have relativity, and I rarely mentally categorize myself as a girl, or that I only focus on women.
As a director: Documentaries are "records"
DOC: Documentaries also have a permanent topic, that is, the meaning of shooting. What do you think is the point of completing this short film, and what is the point of making a documentary? The director also shoots feature films, what do you think is the relationship and difference between feature films and documentaries?
Liu Chongyan: The biggest significance of completing this short film is to tell all victims that there is a long way to go, we must have the courage to expose the truth of the matter, we must bravely raise our voices, no matter what form it takes, but we must say no to unfair persecution. Although we have been victims, we don't want to be seen or labelled and said, "Oh, so poor, ta is a victim of domestic violence", we are still ourselves. As an individual, in the final analysis, a person will still look back at the meaning of "individual" itself, but it is related to all other social factors.
But the meaning of filming a documentary ... For example, when I watched all the movies based on real events when I was a child, I would think about those real events. For example, "The Juvenile Murder Incident on Guling Street", then I will think about what the real incident is like, and what the victims and perpetrators of the real incident are.
Dramas may be the relationship between art and life. "Art just makes life less boring than art." Which French philosopher really forgot, welcome to verify. However, documentaries are like breaking the spell of art. Because no matter what form it is created, no matter how it is created, the re-creation of art is a beautification of reality, of reality, of "reality", or artistization. It has a process of "sharpening", and its sharpness is weakened. And the documentary, he just tells you directly that this thing is really happening, it is... It is the meaning of words - "record".
DOC: In the past, many young directors groped their own way to deliver documentaries to festivals, or producers to deliver and publicize them. Ask Carina to tell us about your distribution company and where you can help young creators.
Carina: We at Random Headache are a London-based film distribution studio (in Chinese, French and English) specialising in tailor-made festival strategy and media campaigns, and passionate about getting the attention independent artists/filmmakers deserve (internationally). Many Asian students who come to study in the UK are disappointed or even disillusioned due to a lack of support from educational institutions, and this is our initial intention to improve this situation. By working with us, they can rest assured of one-on-one in-depth consultation and effective help in the development of the film industry, which has been sorely lacking in universities. In fact, we work with filmmakers not only from Chinese mainland, but also from India, Japan and other parts of the world.
At present, we have helped our clients to be shortlisted for several international film festivals, including IDFA (Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival), Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival, VISIO European Artists Event Image Program, Videoex, Austria YOUKI, Montreal International Animation Film Festival - ANIMAZE, Soho London Independent Film Festival, Supernova Digital Animation Festival and London Fragments Film Festival, among others. Independent filmmakers/video artists who would like to work with us are welcome to send us an email [email protected] with a link to their work (not limited to one work), and please check our website to learn more about our work:
https://randomheadache.cargo.site/
DOC: Once again, congratulations on this film being shortlisted for IDFA's Short Film Competition. The introductory speech talked about the mood of the finalist IDFA and the feedback of the Dutch audience after the screening.
Liu Chongyan: It's very like a dream, very beautiful, very utopian, everyone participates with enthusiasm and love, even if it is a professional section, everyone is really good, very nice, very open. The children in everyone's hearts were very well cared for by each other, and then they also met many excellent, interesting, talented, and brave filmmakers.
At the time of the screening in the Netherlands, because there were more young people, everyone looked at the long shot in the kitchen and they all felt very funny, and then the whole atmosphere was driven very cheerfully, until later everyone found out, oh, it turned out to be a problem of a violent cycle. Then when the second screening was shown, there were generally older audiences, so the atmosphere of the entire cinema was very serious, serious, reflective, and heavy. But this kind of movie-watching atmosphere is all different for me.
For example, the audience all thought it was very interesting and were laughing, but I felt that I could watch this matter less heavily in the future, but it also made me feel that I could also take myself out of this film, and I could see things more easily, as if to say, "Oh, although that period was so painful, severe hair loss under mental violence every day, but it didn't seem to be so serious, because I thought, I bravely freed myself from that closed loop, and I can laugh like this with everyone." ”
DOC: It is a pity that this year's Beijing International Short Film Group Exhibition has been postponed, and this film has also been shortlisted for this year's Chinese language competition. Tell the domestic audience about your films. (As of press time, the film was also shortlisted for this year's HiShorts!) Xiamen Short Film Week)
Liu Chongyan: Whether it is postponed, postponed or whatever, I am extremely impressed by the courage of the organizers and thank the organizers for giving me this opportunity to screen this short film in China. Because I also talked a lot about the planning of the short film group exhibition before. Especially in the case that everyone knows, especially in a period like this, when it is still under strict control, I really appreciate that everyone is willing to watch my films. Thank you very much and welcome your feedback.
DOC: Finally, ask the director and Carina to introduce your favorite documentary/documentary director, or the most respected documentary you have seen recently.
Carina: I watch more documentaries on music biographies, nature, history, and shorter experimental records, so I don't specifically pick documentaries. Recently, I have been watching Kenyuki Fuhara's "Fruits of Life" on and off.
Liu Chongyan: Pan Lied's "L'image manquante" really is, I have nothing to say. The other two documentary ceilings in my mind I believe many filmmakers are too—Claude Longzmann's Havoc and Joshua Oppenheimer's The Killing Interpretation. My previous professor at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts, Clément Cogitore's Hate Valley Braguino, and my current teacher at Fresnoy, Patric Chiha's Brothers of the Night, are also doing very well.
Just yesterday I also talked to him about a shot in the second half of "Night Brothers" where the two brothers were arguing, and then the non-professional Turkish male prostitute was interacting with Patrick, who couldn't understand a word behind the camera, such a tacit understanding, and cooperating with the director with ease. Wow really, it was so touching for the filmmakers behind the camera.
The above information materials come from the official IDFA and the director team