She is the first well-deserved Chinese female director, and she is also a "lone woman" who has practiced "making movies well" all her life. On April 24th, the 14th Beijing International Film Festival held a master class on Xu Anhua's films, where Xu Anhua, film scholar Dai Jinhua and director Wen Yan completed a sincere and simple sharing with the theme of "The Long Road of Female Independent Filmmakers".
Before the master class began, Xu Anhua's fans who came from Tiannan and Haibei had already gathered outside the venue. With a denim dress, iconic round-framed glasses, and even a little lipstick, Xu Anhua's outfit that day was intellectually playful, and the audience applauded and cheered as soon as she appeared.
As the most representative female director in the Chinese film industry, since the first film "Crazy Robbery" in 1979, Ann Hui has always been able to keenly capture social changes and human conditions from a delicate female perspective, constantly arousing the audience's emotional resonance. However, Xu Anhua bluntly said that all her plays did not have special thinking from a female perspective, "It's just that because the protagonist of the story happens to be a woman, and I am also a woman, I know her better for various reasons, so I filmed it." However, she said that the issue of gender needs to be considered, and that she did not start thinking about it until she was in her 70s, and that thinking must start with herself.
When creating, Hui Anhua generally does not write the script herself, but cooperates with the screenwriter. She admits that this way of creating is a habit. "The screenwriter I worked with at the beginning was Chen Yunwen, who is a very creative and strong screenwriter, and I immediately agreed to what he wrote. At that time, I would shoot a little script every day, and I would wait for him at his house at night, pick a scene to be filmed tomorrow, and then go to shoot for two days. Xu Anhua said with a smile that he still can't quit this habit and is not good at planning. And she respects literature so much that she always doubts whether she can write it. When Dai Jinhua praised "Xu Anhua performed better in works with less strong scripts", she modestly said that the most important thing is to play well, and good works have the contributions of screenwriters, photographers, actors and other departments, not only her personal credit.
What is surprising is that as an important figure throughout the history of Hong Kong film, in his film career for more than half a century, Hui Anhua has not signed any company, has no "backer" behind him, and has always been a lone independent director. In this regard, Xu Anhua admitted frankly that this is not her own choice. "I didn't mean to go it alone, but I didn't get along with people. I look honest, but in fact, I am very fierce during filming, and I have some inexplicable requests. But in Dai Jinhua's view, Xu Anhua doesn't want to make any compromises on capital in creation because of the contract. Xu Anhua once said that every time she makes a movie, she prepares to be the last one, because there may be no investment in the next one.
1995's "Woman, Forty" is considered a turning point in Xu Anhua's creation, and after that, she filmed more small people, people around her, and things around her. Xu Anhua recalled that at first, someone asked her to make a documentary on the theme of the elderly, and in the process of visiting many elderly people, she suddenly realized that she would also be old, and heard that a friend's mother had Alzheimer's, and under these inspirations, she filmed "Woman, Forty". The film is the first time in a Chinese-language film to show an elderly person with dementia. When filming the film, Xu Anhua was a little nervous and didn't know how it would work, but when she dubbed it, she found that many people were amused by the story, and she was very happy.
Tie your shoes, eat ...... These small things and details of life are delicately and vividly photographed in Xu Anhua's works, flowing with the poetry and timelessness of life. In this regard, Xu Anhua admitted that she has always paid special attention to details, but sometimes she can shoot it, sometimes she can't. "The eating scene of "Days and Nights in Tin Shui Wai" is so good, because the props group dishes are very good, and they were only made out during filming, and the actors ate very deliciously, which is right. It's not about finding two dishes that they can't eat and let them pretend to eat, it's completely different. ”
Xu Anhua said that after being a director for so many years, she feels more and more that the story is suitable for TV dramas to express, and those inexplicable "feelings" are the most important core of the movie, "The movie is the director's views and feelings." ”
In 2021, the film adaptation of Zhang Ailing's novel "The First Incense" directed by Xu Anhua caused huge controversy after its release. Talking about the adaptation of literary works into movies, Xu Anhua said that the advantage of this type of work is that there are already good stories and characters, but the disadvantage is that the more famous the literary work, the more difficult it is to change the audience's fixed impression and opinion. She admitted frankly that she was nervous and excited when she was filming "The First Incense", and she had a bit of a book fan mentality, "I admit that I didn't do well in many places." But she said that she would not make any more works of Zhang Ailing for the time being, because she didn't expect what kind of way to adapt it.
As a film master who has already won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice International Film Festival, what are his goals and plans for the future? Xu Anhua said that he has been in poor health in the past few years, and he spends more time thinking and watching films. "Although it should be filmed by young people, I still feel that I have made some progress, so I still want to film, and I hope to have the opportunity to make a film. She also said that due to physical reasons, she may not be able to make films alone, so she wants to find someone to work with and help each other.