At the Guangzhou Documentary Festival, Zhou Hao, the most well-known documentary filmmaker in Guangzhou, has appeared as the "home" for many years and hosted the Forum of Emerging Directors for 5 years.
In his early years, Zhou Hao worked as a photojournalist in Xinhua News Agency, Southern Weekend and other media. In 2014, he directed the documentary "Cotton", which won the Best Documentary Award at the 51st Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards. In 2015, he directed the documentary "Datong", which won the Best Documentary Award at the 52nd Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards.
At the scene of the documentary, you can see Zhou Hao communicating with new and old directors or fans at any time, and everyone is warmly surrounding him. The host on stage is him, and the host offstage seems to be still him.
As a journalist, Zhou Hao is perhaps the most down-to-earth director. People who have come into contact with Zhou Hao will have a sense of perception, Teacher Zhou is particularly straight and sincere.
Sincerity is a trait that Zhou Hao attaches great importance to, "For me, documentary is a way of life, and the audience watches each of your films as a way of watching you look at the world, and you must be sincere in facing this matter." ”
How sincere is Zhou Hao to things and people to documentaries? Chen Weixi, a new director of "The Sixth Floor of Wuhan Intensive Care Zone", conducted a guest interview with Zhou Hao.
Zhou Hao
Talk about the first time on the big screen: the ones who should come are coming
Chen Weixi: Many directors have the obsession of the big screen, your previous films have not been on the big screen, "Desperate Note" is finally on the big screen, what does it mean to you?
Zhou Hao: I didn't expect so much, I used to participate in the film festival in the field of hundreds of people, I did not study film, I did not have a particularly strong cinema complex. The big screen is still a medium, but there is an extra space, after all, living in China still needs to meet the public. Doing documentaries is also a medium, and it's good to have this opportunity, but it's not ecstatic, and it's time to come.
Chen Weixi: Going to the cinema to play "Desperate Note" was thought of at the beginning?
Zhou Hao: When this film was made, it was thought out at the beginning, originally a film company came to us, and even the idea was their creativity, they found a lot of directors, and we finally reached a tacit understanding.
Chen Weixi: Did the film company ask you to do it, on the influence of your creation?
Zhou Hao: No, because the person who asked me to make a film must have seen my previous films, and he approved of my way of observing the world, so he couldn't say that he asked me to make a thing they needed, and they came to me because they liked their previous things, liked my methods.
The starting point is the requirements of others, but it is quickly transformed into their own requirements, documentary filmmakers must go with the flow, in the existing state to complete what they want to do, it is difficult to have a thing is their own thing, it must be their own things and other people's things combined to become a reality.
The first left is the host Zhou Hao (photo Chen Zhigang)
Talk about creation: The greatest joy of doing documentaries is dealing with interviewees
Chen Weixi: What is your greatest joy in doing documentaries?
Zhou Hao: In fact, we have been looking for this uncertainty in the film and in life, and this uncertainty is the greatest joy I have made the film. Some people say what is your greatest joy in making a film? Is it to go on stage to receive the award? Go to a film festival? Of course that's dazzling, but the happier thing for me is the kind of satisfaction you get in the process of dealing with these interviewees, and I think that's the most tempting thing for me.
Chen Weixi: What is the most annoying part of the documentary process?
Zhou Hao: I really can't talk about hate, I think these processes are a whole process, you can't say that my happiness is based on the shooting process, that kind of communication or preparation for filming when there are many dilemmas, such as can't shoot, people tell you not to shoot me, what to do? When these problems are resolved step by step by you, the happiness will actually be greater, there has never been a film that is very smooth, it is not a film, if you shoot after the film is exactly the same as you imagined before, it is a very boring thing, you must be unexpected, you can convince the audience.
Chen Weixi: Has the high overlap of careers and hobbies bothered you?
Zhou Hao: Fortunately, I think this is a relatively big challenge, I will not be too entangled in those details, suffer from gains and losses, and many people in the documentary industry actually can't do it, that is, there is no way to deal with these relationships, too annoying, too tangled, not suitable for doing.
Chen Weixi: After "Datong" will no longer be a photographer, generally the photographer will begin to control the scheduling of the scene, what kind of change have you made in your creation?
Zhou Hao: In the early days, the filming was all done by one person from beginning to end, the early shooting, the director, and the subsequent editing were all done by one person, and later the technical requirements would be high, and after all, a person had limited ability, so there was a team working with you, and I still enjoyed the process, because the film itself is a product that everyone cooperates with, you can't be too self-righteous, so I am willing to find some people to work with me, and I can also learn from them, you are not so cattle. And, there's a fatal problem that I've spent too much time with, and I'm focusing on big problems.
Chen Weixi: Does the misconduct machine have a feeling of being liberated?
Zhou Hao: At the beginning, I definitely felt that the photographer had a distance from your requirements, it was still not the same as your director's own shooting, but it was lost on the one hand, but on the other hand there would be gains, there was never a method that was the best way, but in the end it was necessary to find a way to adapt to new changes, I think I will still use the photographer in the future, but I think one day when the technology is not an obstacle, when the equipment is getting smaller and smaller, I still use my own method to shoot, because I think there is a free aspect of a person shooting a film. This is a very contradictory thing, the team is a coordination, both methods I will not particularly refuse, depending on the opportunity and the subject matter.
Chen Weixi: Is the financing problem that is common in the documentary industry still a problem for you?
Zhou Hao: Of course, financing is also a problem for me, but I joke that if I do it for 20 years and it is still difficult for me to make films in China to find money, the industry does not need to develop. I think that in fact, at this time, a lot of head resources will tilt me. For example, like the awards of film festivals, it will really come to you when it is filmed, do you say that I will win bigger awards in the future? I don't worry about this matter, I worry about whether I have a good film, if I have a good film, it will definitely win, it is time to come.
Zhou Hao presided over the New Directors Forum
Advice for newcomers: Documentaries are not a vanity fair, nor do they make a lot of money
Chen Weixi: In recent years, you have been the host of the New Directors Forum of the China (Guangzhou) International Documentary Festival, can you talk about the trends of new documentary directors in their creation?
Zhou Hao: The documentary industry is still different from other industries, because I still want to see the works of mature directors, because they can surprise me, because young directors really don't surprise me, because our gang is thinking about problems, and there are so many early accumulations, so I will prefer to watch the works of older directors, in fact, some films can't talk about the whole film is particularly good, but it will also give me a small surprise, such as This time Gu Xue's "Family Meeting", although she said that there are many regrets, But after all, it is an attempt, a way of presentation, I feel very eager to see other people shoot something different from me, I think this for me it will be stimulating to me, such as shooting the intensive care ward in Wuhan, I still like it when I first saw it.
Chen Weixi: Can you give young directors some advice on taking fewer detours?
Zhou Hao: Actually, I think the documentary is not a vanity fair, and it can't make any big money, but why can we guys still do it, I think we still found the joy of making films, dealing with people to explore subtle flavors, this thing is the most important. At the same time, in the process of doing it, my profession and my hobbies are highly consistent, you can use your hobby as your profession is a very happy thing, depending on whether you really love it, if you really love it, then these are not burdens, if you don't love it, all are burdens.
Written by: Nandu reporter Xu Xiaolei correspondent Wei Chaoran