Daily: 50 little things you must know
1. This is my third time participating in the Shanghai Film Festival, the previous two were in 2018 and 2019. In the past two years, because it is not very convenient to travel, so I have not come over, and this time I also hope to take this opportunity to re-feel the atmosphere of the Shanghai Film Festival. It is worth mentioning that last year's Shanghai Film Festival was postponed to this year, so to some extent, I still experienced the "last year" film festival, which is a very wonderful fate.
2. The renovation of Shanghai Film City, the main venue of this year's Shanghai Film Festival, gives people a bright feeling, and the appearance is very similar to an art museum. Some fans said that the pressure of renovation has now given the Xiaoxitian Film Archive in Beijing, which is of course a joke, but it also reflects the good wishes of fans. Because many well-known film festivals in the world have their own film palaces, this domestic Pingyao Film Festival has done well. Beijing and Shanghai are too big cities, it is very troublesome to watch movies, if there is an integrated viewing facility, it can be described as the icing on the cake.
3. The jury lineup of the main competition unit of this year's Shanghai Film Festival is very strong, and the chairman of the jury, Jez Skolimowski, is a film master from Poland, and his film "Donkey Cry" won the jury prize in Cannes last year. His father was born in China, and his grandfather, Polish architect Kazimierz Skolimowski, who worked on urban planning for China, was the first time Jez came to Shanghai at the age of 82.
4. The Chinese faces of the judges of the main competition unit, as well as the actors Song Jia and the two directors Zhang Lu and Wen Yan, who we are very familiar with. Song Jia is no stranger to everyone, films such as "Calm Waves" and "Under the Ice" starring her have been shortlisted for the Shanghai Film Festival, which is considered an old friend here; Zhang Lu and Wen Yan are author-type directors who have attracted much attention in recent years, and their addition adds a stronger professionalism to the jury.
5. Yi Yangqianxi is a judge for the Asian Newcomer Award this year, which is a sub-unit of the Shanghai Film Festival, which is almost the attribute of the "a kind of attention" section of the Cannes Film Festival, aiming to discover the works of new directors. In addition to Yi Yangqianxi, the Chinese judges of this unit include producer Xu Yuezhen, actor Yang Zishan and director Lu Yang.
6. The selection quality of this year's Asian Newcomer Award is very high, and there have been many word-of-mouth hits, such as "Young Diary" produced by Er Dongsheng, "Long Day" directed by Wang Zichuan, and "Mei's Day and Night" produced by Zhou Xun. Although they are all new directors, the selection of topics is very wide, and the output level of finished films is very stable, no wonder some film critics say that these films of this year's Asian Newcomer Awards can stand up to a film festival!
7. Among the many Asian Newcomer Award films, I especially want to recommend a Kazakhstani film "Running Away", which tells the story of the 1930s, when a man-made famine occurred in colonial Kazakhstan, and gravedigger Isatei brought the bodies of new men, women and children to mass graves every day - a huge, cracked underground hole. The village chief, hoping to get some food from Salkander, sent Isatee to deliver the message. In order to protect his younger brother, he decided to take his younger brother with him on the road. The endless steppe turned into a recurring nightmare, with barren spaces and endless hunger gradually dominating Isate's thoughts. Although there are not many characters in the whole film, it is very textured, depicting the process of people fighting with nature and self in extreme predicament, and the film eventually won the Best Director Award, which is recommended to everyone here.
8. At this year's Shanghai Film Festival, it is also gratifying that we have seen the return of many offline conferences. In the past, every year at the Shanghai Film Festival, a large number of film companies would take this opportunity to release new films, and in 2018 and 2019, when it was the most lively, there would be an average of 3-4 press conferences a day. Although the number has not reached the pre-epidemic effect this year, it has at least a trend of recovery, which has also brought a certain amount of confidence inside and outside the industry.
9. The press conference of "Megalodon 2: The Abyss", the two leading actors Jason Statham and Wu Jing appeared. What impressed me at the press conference was that Wu Jing mentioned that when he celebrated the crew's birthday, he bought 1,000 packages of dumplings, accompanied by two pots, vinegar and garlic, and invited the whole crew to experience "dumplings on wine". Jason Statham also expressed his gratitude to Wu Jing's "dumpling wine", Wu Jingjing is really worthy of being the ambassador of Chinese cultural export.
10. Another of the more lively is the press conference of "Operation Moscow". Director Qiu Litao, producer Han Sanping, starring Zhang Hanyu, Huang Xuan, etc. were also present. It is worth mentioning that Andy Lau is a co-producer and special star of this film. Huang Xuan will challenge the villain role for the first time in this movie, playing a robber leader, for which he has studied a lot of documentaries and news materials of real robberies, repeatedly studied and analyzed the psychology and logic of bandits, and combined with his own characteristics to find the feeling of bad guys, and does not want to shape the bad guys in Facebook.
11. Many film companies will also take this opportunity to release their own new film lists. Bona Film announced a number of high-profile projects during the festival: such as "Boyhood" directed by Chen Kaige, "Knife Tip" directed by Gao Qunshu, "Operation Red Sea 2" directed by Lin Chaoxian, "Kashmir Princess" directed by Liu Weiqiang, "Qixiong" directed by Zhuang Wenqiang, "Mermaid" cooperated again by Cheng Er Wang Yibo, and "Wenchuan Earthquake" directed by Chen Guohui.
12. Boehner's new film "Don't Call Me God of Gamblers" is about to be released, and Chow Yun-fat also appeared in Shanghai Beach after a long absence. Now the best publicity of Brother Fa movies is that he will take a morning jog during the promotion period, 5 years ago "Matchless" was in Chaoyang Park in Beijing, this time many citizens met Brother Fa by chance on the Bund, and Brother Fa will take photos with everyone cordially. It's really a good publicity idea.
13. Wang Baoqiang's new film "In the Octagonal Cage" also took the opportunity of the Shanghai Film Festival to carry out the first wave of screenings, and the feeling of "I Am Not the God of Medicine" in 2018 was somewhat imitated in the number of publicity roads, all of which first released the first wave of word-of-mouth at the Shanghai Film Festival, and then screened on a large scale, becoming the annual box office dark horse. Wang Baoqiang's new film is of good quality, and you can see that whether it is the character setting or the texture of the entire movie, it shows a spirit of not admitting defeat. Six years ago, he went to get a golden broom because of "Big Trouble", and although everyone said that he had a heart, he must be holding his breath in his heart. This tone did not use small compositions and mouth cannons, but came out with works, proving that he is still capable.
14. It is also worth mentioning that the opening film of this film festival is also Han Yan's new film "I Love You" that will be released at the Dragon Boat Festival, which has gained a good reputation after the film screening. The audience said after the screening that it is the best love movie in 2023, and I agree with it. The most important thing is not to "age" the elderly, but to reduce them to the most real ordinary people to interpret, from last year's "Mom! ", to this time "I love you! We need such works that do not ugly the elderly and focus on the lives of the elderly. France has "Love", South Korea has "I Love You", and China also has high-quality love movies for the elderly.
15. This year's Shanghai Film Festival SIFF YOUNG × Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program, unveiled the list of selected filmmakers, director Wen Muye, Shen Ao, Liu Xunzimo, Shao Yihui, Li Xiaofeng and producer Don He, screenwriter You Xiaoying 7 outstanding filmmakers stood out, these 7 filmmakers to a certain extent also reflect the current domestic youth creation focus and trend, that is, realistic themes, female themes, comedy themes, etc.
16. Young actor Wen Qi also came to the Shanghai Film Festival this time with his first directorial short film, called "She Asked". The story tells the story of a 19-year-old heroine living alone in the city, some of her mother's behaviors in childhood caused her great harm, and when she came into contact with and interpreted Qu Yuan's "Tianwen", she seemed to find an outlet for life. Wen Qi said of her feelings as a director for the first time: "It's not easy and it's very challenging, but it's very interesting. ”
17. In addition to the officially announced new films mentioned above, there are some new films worth paying attention to, such as Beijing's wonderful "Lion Boy 2", which tells the story of Ajuan, an unknown person who came to Shanghai to work, in order to make money to treat his father's illness, agreed to represent the declining Chuanwu Boxing Gym to participate in the "Shanghai Fighting Night" martial arts competition, for which he must overcome all masters, prejudices and himself. Looking at the trailer, Ajuan has grown up, and this is worth looking forward to.
18. In addition to the previously officially announced "Hot Search", director Xin Yukun also announced a new project called "Across the Sea", about the transnational friendship between an international student in the UK and an old man. "Hot Search" will also be released this year, and it is finally time to meet everyone!
19. What touched me this year was Chen Kexin's master class, I haven't seen him for a long time. This time he did a lot of sharing in the master class, and there were also a lot of golden sentences, specifically to make a record:
"I can live in very cruel and difficult circumstances, but I have a very warm belief that tomorrow will be better. Recently, people often say the word 'warm realism', and I especially believe in this 'warm realism' because I am such a person. ”
"I understand that it's not easy to succeed, and you have to make a lot of compromises on everything. But when it comes to compromise, there must also be technology, but also persistence. ”
"What kind of people want to make what kind of movies, honest with themselves can make good movies."
"My movie is stuck in the middle, and it's not the most profitable, most commercial movie, because it will touch the misfortune or the dark side of human nature or things that you don't want to touch, and dig it out more." But when you dig it out and say it, you don't want the gory to be pessimistic or hopeless. I do believe that it can be solved, and I can only solve it if I can't solve it. ”
However, one thing to complain about is that the invited host is not a professional in the field of film, and the questions and responses are too amateurish, which destroys the atmosphere of the scene to a certain extent.
20. The aforementioned chairman of the jury, Liz Skolimovsky, also spoke about his creative journey for the first time. He talked about himself now, and he no longer caters to the audience. "If a film is too perfect, it doesn't need the audience, it doesn't need any critics' comments, it should go straight into the audience's heart." Indeed, I challenge the ingenuity of the moviegoers, I don't want to tell them all the information in order and number, but to show them in a non-linear way, so that all the audience will have their own interpretation of the film, and the audience will have a sense of satisfaction, and will feel that they have communicated with the filmmaker on a mental and spiritual level. ”
21. Director Zhang Lu is a director with high production in recent years, and this year's new work "Light of the White Tower" was also shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival and the Beijing Film Festival, and was also screened at the Shanghai Film Festival. When talking about the creation of films, he has a very important sentence: "Movies should be similar to the texture of our lives." What I don't believe in, what doesn't go wrong with my life experience, I don't think it's right. I believe this sentence will inspire many young creators today.
22. Women's power is still the trend of focus of the Shanghai Film Festival, and this year a special women's creation forum was set up, inviting Zhang Ziyi, Wu Junmei, Zhang Mo, Wang Jiayi and other middle-aged and young female filmmakers to communicate. Zhang Ziyi recalled that when she first came into contact with movies, from a girl who didn't know how to act at all, she was selected by Zhang Yimou at a glance and pushed onto the big screen, and now she thinks that everything is incredible. And in the days of living with a peasant family, carrying flat burdens and carrying hoes to do farm work together, she let the role of "Zhaodi" naturally attach to herself, "There is no performance here, and there is no shaping, but I let myself leave the familiar life and live another life." Chen Kexin also announced at the scene that the heroine of the next work is Zhang Ziyi.
23. Every year before and after the opening of the film festival, several industry bigwigs will be invited to exchange forums, and this year's speeches of the bigwigs have converged a lot, and there is no such "blockbuster words". A relatively interesting thing is Yu Dong's speech, he pointed out that Hollywood movies in the 1980s and 1990s cultivated a group of core movie audiences, "they are a group of people who chased dramas and watched movies in college, and now the main consumption force is this gang of people," Yu Dong gave an example, this year's Spring Festival "Nameless" sold the best at 22 o'clock, "Why do audiences buy midnight stalls, because the old people sleep, children also sleep, this wave of audiences go out to watch movies, "Nameless" sold best at 10 p.m., It is precisely the mainstream audience that is attracted. ”
24. Hong Kong films have received a lot of exposure at the Shanghai Film Festival this year, and the forum has also set up a special section focusing on the creations of young Hong Kong directors. Jia Shengfeng, the director of "Flowing Water and Flowers", who let Zheng Xiuwen win the Academy Award this year, mentioned at the forum that he will insist on shooting localized themes in the future, "Hong Kong filmmakers must be most familiar with Hong Kong, in fact, the uniqueness of each place is very important, and the more localized the theme, the farther the work will go." The audience sees the uniqueness of the story, but the shooting team is not necessarily the person where the story takes place, and the narrative can be more diverse. ”
25. Another genre that has attracted much attention is science fiction movies, and the popularity of "The Wandering Earth 2" at the beginning of the year allowed more people to see the development and possibilities of Chinese science fiction. At the science fiction theme forum, director Guo Fan said that when we all begin to embrace "science fiction movies", we must not forget that the core of the film can only be emotions, not concepts. "Recently I've been reaching out to some creators who are younger than me, including some new directors, and they've mentioned a lot of sci-fi projects, and I've found a common problem – they're focusing on 'high concepts' in the nature of technology, and it's technology that excites them. But let's not forget that the essence of science fiction movies is movies, and the core of movies is emotions. If our 'high concept', high technology and emotions have nothing to do with it, it becomes popular science, so how to combine these things is very important. ”
26. How can we further help small and medium-cost films to open up the market? The Shanghai Film Festival also discussed this proposition in the form of a forum. Producer and actress Liang Jing has supported a number of excellent small-cost newcomer masterpieces, and her views are more representative. In her opinion, film newcomers often face huge market pressure, so she will explore different ways to help directors go to the market, "first let them become a good director with expression and recognition, and then slowly train them to connect with the market." ”
27. Every time I go to a film festival when time permits, I will go to the film market section, because a good film festival not only does a lot in the fields of screening, awards, etc., but also has a strong circulation in the market link. In the salon set up by the market this year, I met several familiar producers who focus on Chinese films going international, such as Xie Meng, the producer of "Burning Winter", who described his experience of dealing with distributors in various regions overseas: due to the impact of the epidemic, on the one hand, distributors in various countries have basically gone to inventory in recent years; On the one hand, new films are also increasing, so the pressure of marketing is relatively large. Speaking of current Chinese films, he believes that global film festivals are very interested in Chinese creators creating Chinese stories, and film peers and audiences from all over the world continue to pay more attention to Chinese films.
28. This year in the Daguang Cinema, another very important screening venue, a special tribute area was newly set up in the lobby, on the right side of the escalator, 23 themed road flags were placed step by step, on the road flag is the Golden Goblet Award Best Film of each film festival (the 23rd did not have an award) and the name of the chairman of the Golden Goblet Award jury.
29. Every year the Shanghai Film Festival announces the film list, and fans are very concerned that there will be several films to be screened at the just-concluded Cannes Film Festival, that is, the "Cannes Through Train" in the mouths of fans. In fact, there is no real "through train", in the past few years, Cannes films such as "Thief Family" and "What a Home" came directly to Shanghai for screening, mainly because of the operation of domestic film companies. It's a pity this year that there is only one Cannes ACID section of Linda Wants to Eat Chicken! came to the Shanghai Film Festival, but talk is better than nothing. Sha Dan, curator and film critic of the China Film Archive, said: "Is it a good film festival to take the films from the Cannes Film Festival and put them on? No, a film festival needs to pass on its own values. ”
30. Speaking of which, I especially recommend this "Linda wants to eat chicken!" This is one of the favorite works I have seen this year. The movie tells the story of Linda's mother who wronged Linda for stealing the ring, and in order to make up for Linda, she had to make Linda a plate of black pepper chicken on the days when all stores went on strike. This is a niche independent animated film produced in France, using abstract art to tell the story of real family conflicts, sincere feelings between mother and daughter, and street chaos caused by a chicken. The simple hand-drawn style is combined with the rich and colorful rendering, presenting a surprising and warm artistic appeal, making each frame look like a beautiful modernist painting.
31. Next, let's focus on the main competition unit of this year's film festival, that is, the films shortlisted for the Golden Goblet Award. Just last night, the Golden Goblet Award announced the list of winners, and there are still many surprises in this list. The first is Best Picture, awarded to the Japanese film "658 Kilometers, Yoko's Journey", which tells the story of 42-year-old Yoko who gave up her dreams and life a long time ago, she isolated herself from the rest of the world, worked as an online customer service at home, and never left her small apartment. When she received news of the death of her long-estranged father, her cousin forced her to leave her room and ride home with her family for the first time in two decades. However, Yoko ends up alone at a rest stop on the highway ... Without a cell phone and not enough money to use public transportation, Yoko had no choice but to take a ride to her father's funeral. The Shanghai Film Festival has always been friendly to Japanese films, and this time it gave the award to a Japanese film, which also won the Best Screenplay Award.
32. This year's Best Actress laurel was won by Japanese actor Rin Kikuchi, also in the film "658 Kilometers, Yoko's Journey". It's just that before that, the queen with a very high voice was Shu Qi in "Looking for Her", she sacrificed a lot for this role, but unfortunately did not win the award in the end, some regrets.
33. This year's best actor is especially worth mentioning, because of the "double yellow egg" opened for a long time, and the last time there were more than two actors in the same session was "Scorching Sun" (Deng Chao, Duan Yihong, Guo Tao) 8 years ago. First of all, let's talk about Hu Ge, his award-winning film is "It's Worth the Trip". When he accepted the award on stage, he said, "The biggest obstacle to being an actor is being too rational, but when I encounter the role of Wen Shan, I am willing to give myself to him." Hu Ge plays the hero Wen Shan in "It's Not Worth the Trip", a frustrated screenwriter who turns to write eulogies. In the process of understanding the stories of the deceased, he healed himself and found a new direction in life. Outside the play, the process of playing Wen Shan also healed Hu Ge himself and helped him get out of the pain of his mother's death.
34. Let's talk about Dapeng, his award-winning film is "The Eighth Suspect", in which he plays the mastermind of a shocking robbery and a complex villain. "I'm like I'm in a movie right now, and it's really long, hard and lucky," he said. Today this honor is very important to me, I am not confident, I gave all my efforts, today makes me believe that no matter how ordinary and ordinary I am, I am not favored, but we are shining. ”
35. Liu Jiayin, the director of "It's Not Worth the Trip", won the Best Director Award, she herself is an associate professor of literature at the Beijing Film Academy, and her previous works "Cowhide" and "Cowhide 2" were shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival, and have a good reputation among fans. "It's Not Worth the Trip" is her new feature film after 14 years of defiance on the big screen, and the film has just been officially announced on September 9.
36. "Looking for Her" starring Shu Qi won the Artistic Contribution Award, film director Chen Shizhong is a native of Guangdong "post-90s", and his first feature film attracted Shu Qi, Bai Ke, Zhang Benyu, Lang Yueting to join and star, and can win awards at the Shanghai Film Festival, which is a good start.
37. The Best Documentary Award was awarded to "Anxiety Beirut", young director Zakaria Gabul is full of feelings for the Beirut where she grew up, hoping to let more people understand this complex city through recording. Through this documentary, viewers can get a closer feel for the emotions that pervaded Beirut after the revolution, war, port bombing accident, protest demonstrations in the past few years. While filming the changes in the city, Zakaria, who has repeatedly made up his mind to leave, also left his reluctance and entanglement in the image.
38. In general, the award list this time maintains the usual balance of the Shanghai Film Festival, except for a slight surprise in the actor candidates, there is nothing special overall, and it is a more "stable" award.
39. Taiwanese director Wang Tong, who co-presented the award with Jez Skolimovsky, won the first Golden Goblet Award for Best Picture 30 years ago with "Wordless Hills", and is also 81 years old this year.
40. The famous Japanese director Hiroshi Yamada won the Golden Goblet Award with his 90th work "Hello, Mom", and also held a world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which made many fans and filmmakers extremely moved. "I was hesitant to come to the festival this year, but in the end I came, and I thought this might be the last time I went abroad to a film festival." His words moved the audience. Yoji Yamada is 92 years old this year.
41. In addition to the official activities of the Shanghai Film Festival, there are many platforms that will take this opportunity to plan some large-scale activities, such as Douyin, Weibo, etc., mainly through the convenience of the crews in Shanghai, in fact, the stars attending each event are similar, but the event party will change their tricks and present awards to films and artists. For example, at the event of Douyin, there will be a moment when Zhou Yunfa presented an award to Shen Teng.
42. This year, because the time is relatively hurried, and there is a lot of work, so the film is not much seen compared to before, but the experience and sense of participation are still very strong, and some fans who also came to participate chatted, everyone feels good this year.
43. Fans who came to Shanghai, following the example of the Beijing Film Festival, also built a shared document, and anyone who sees it can add a place to complain about this year's film festival. I watched it as a whole, mainly some problems of viewing etiquette, some viewers will loudly call or eat, screen film, and even put their feet on the seats of the audience in front. The construction of movie etiquette still seems to require a relatively long process.
44. However, compared with previous years, I can feel that the number of elderly audiences participating in the film festival this year is more, and the "silver-haired people" can be seen in many screenings, and there are also many elderly friends in Shanghai Film City who come to check in and take photos. The festival is an all-ages event, never just for young people, it's good that more people are involved.
45. What I want to complain about a little is that it often rains in Shanghai in June because it enters the rainy season. Often the sun is shining a moment ago, and after watching a movie, it is pouring rain, and it is very embarrassing to rush the scene. Of course, this is the weather factor, and there is really no way to remind fans who come to the Shanghai Film Festival in the future to bring rain gear.
46. In the screening list, the "non-new film" I most want to see but have not seen is "Instantaneous Universe", if I can feel this movie on the IMAX big screen, it will be a very shocking thing. Michelle Yeoh also came to Shanghai to attend the opening ceremony. Being able to select "Instantaneous Universe" into the film list also reflects the progress of the Shanghai Film Festival to a certain extent.
47. Including the films shortlisted for the Golden Goblet Award, this year's Shanghai Film Festival has a total of 53 world premieres, 41 international premieres, 80 Asian premieres and 76 Chinese premieres.
48. According to official data, within one hour of the first day of ticketing, a total of 338,000 movie tickets were sold, and 425 movie screenings were sold out. The audience is mainly from the Yangtze River Delta region, with Shanghai accounting for 76.2%, and audiences in Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Beijing and other places are also buying tickets for the Shanghai Film Festival screenings.
49. The last film I saw at this year's Shanghai Film Festival was the closing film "Warm", when I watched this movie, director Dapeng had just won the actor, and he came to the scene with the trophy full of joy. The quality of the film is good, Dapeng did not become an actor this time, the depersonalization is more obvious, and he tells a story more down-to-earth. This movie gives me the feeling that there is no ambition, more sincerity.
50. Another year of film festivals is over, and the audience disperses and returns to the normal trajectory of life. What exactly is the significance of the festival? Why is there such a great charm that people from the South and North of the World are willing to spend time and money to come here? I think it's for the light on the screen, for the peace and fulfillment of the heart when I see a good movie in the theater, and for the applause that resonates after the movie. There are many experiences that only film festivals have, which is why people enjoy them for the festival. Thanks to the Shanghai Film Festival, I hope that this time next year, we will be together again.