Source: People's Daily - UK Channel
People's Daily London, October 25 (Yu Ying) Recently, the first Sino-British co-production film "Storm and Midsummer Night", which was launched since the outbreak of the epidemic, successfully completed part of the Shooting in the United Kingdom at Harden Manor in Derbyshire, England, and is expected to meet Chinese audiences in the second half of next year.
According to reports, "The Tempest and Midsummer Night" is jointly produced by China Juben Pictures and British Xinna Pictures, through Shakespeare's classic comedy masterpiece "Taming", which cleverly and creatively connects the three time and space of 16th century England, Shanghai in the 1930s and contemporary China in the 21st century, telling the story of three young people who insist on fighting for their ideals and brave difficulties. In order to highlight the outstanding contribution of the protagonist and the first person to translate Shakespeare's complete works in China, Mr. Zhu Shenghao, in three stories, the screenwriter depicts the deeds of Mr. Zhu Shenghao's translation of Shakespeare's plays during the arduous war years.
At the online launch conference jointly organized by the China Tourism Office in London and Juben Pictures, Director Xue Ling of the London Tourism Office said that he was very pleased to include the film in the "Masterpieces and Sharing" section of the 2021 UK "Tianya Gong this time" online activity, which highlighted the outstanding achievements of cross-cultural and artistic cooperation. The UK-based cultural tourism team regards this co-production project as an excellent cultural bridge between China and the UK, and will actively support the promotion and promotion of the project in the UK and China.
Wang Qiang, the promoter of the film and chairman of Juben Pictures, said through video recording that shooting such a film about words is full of challenges. Nearly a hundred years ago, Mr. Zhu Shenghao accurately and elegantly translated Shakespeare's works into Chinese, like the builders of the Tower of Babel, connecting people with language barriers. The filming of this film is also following in the footsteps of Mr. Zhu and contributing to the strength of this generation to enhance mutual understanding between the East and the West.
The Film's British director Chadwick said that shooting this film is a very memorable experience, and international teams from China, Britain, the United States and Europe have worked together to complete the task under the pressure of the epidemic and present this story about words visually. This story also allowed him as an Englishman to re-examine his own understanding of Shakespeare, to excavate and discover the little-known qualities of Shakespeare and his wife, presenting a richer and three-dimensional character image.
British screenwriter Murdoch said that he was deeply moved by Zhu Shenghao's story when he first heard it many years ago, and this story full of courage and perseverance must be told so that people in the UK and the world know. The story is about connections, shakespeare's connection with Chu Shenghao, Britain's connection with China, the connection with people around the world. The film is a tribute to Sino-British friendship and Sino-British cultural exchanges.
Alexandra Gilblaise, a well-known actress in the Royal Shakespeare Company and an expert in Shakespeare studies, said emotionally that "collaboration" was the key word in this shooting, and participating in the pre-creation of the film was one of the most enjoyable and inspiring experiences in his career. She has performed "Taming the Taming" on the drama stage many times and has a deep affection for this play. Zhu Shenghao's story made her realize that Shakespeare's creative influence is so far-reaching that even across times and languages, it can still resonate emotionally.
The filming of this film was also strongly supported by Zhu Shenghao's hometown Jiaxing City and Zhu Shenghao's family, and Zhu Shenghao's son Zhu Shanggang specially recorded a video for the press conference. He said that the chinese and British artists chose Shakespeare and Zhu Shenghao, a theme that spanned the century and spanned east and west, reflecting the strong desire of the people of the two countries to actively promote cultural exchanges. 80 years ago, my father, as a translator of Shakespeare's works, built a bridge for Chinese people to understand English literature. 80 years later, coinciding with the 110th anniversary of his father's birth, the film will introduce Chinese culture and the spirit of Chinese to British audiences through images, so that the two peoples have a deeper understanding and cognition of each other.
In his concluding remarks, the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in the UK said that since the outbreak of the epidemic, many high-quality cultural cooperation projects between China and the UK have been forced to be postponed or cancelled. The successful completion of filming provides an example for the continued pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in the field of culture and art under the new normal. "The Tempest and Midsummer Night" fully embodies the spirit of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and British civilizations, and will certainly live up to the mission of bringing china and britain closer to the people and enhancing China-UK relations. As Ambassador Zheng Zeguang said in his opening speech of the 2021 "Tianya Gong this time" project, China and the UK are representative countries of Eastern and Western civilizations, and civilizations are colorful because of exchanges and enriched by mutual learning. The "At this time" project will further expand the prospects for people-to-people exchanges between China and the UK, further promote people-to-people ties, and contribute to the improvement and development of China-UK relations.