On October 14, 2020, "Mother and Seven Days" was screened at the Pingyao International Film Festival Media Field, and before the film was over, there was a one-star bad review of the "media audience" who left the scene in the middle of the douban. At 19:30 the next night, the film premiered for the first time to a domestic audience in the Spring Hall of the Small Town of Pingyao Film Palace, and won the Fei Mu Honorary Best Film Award at the Pingyao International Film Festival on October 16. Since then, it has been screened at several foreign film festivals such as the Busan Film Festival in South Korea, and won the Ingmar Bergman Award at the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden in February 2021.
As a feature film, Mom and Seven Days of Time tells a true story that takes place in the '90s. Director Li Dongmei recorded and reproduced a tragedy that should not have happened from an objective and stoic perspective. Presenting a style of "still water flowing deeply, watching from the wall", it is extremely restrained, as if the endless calm before the storm comes. Therefore, it also gives the film a documentary significance of scene reproduction.
In Pingyao, the film received polarized reviews. It touched many viewers, and some viewers also said that they could not accept this style.
Recently, Bump Mirror conducted an exclusive interview with director Li Dongmei in the New Asia Film And History Workshop.
What is the origin of her film creation? What kind of mental journey has it been? How does she see the polarization of the audience? All told in the interview.
In the process of interview, from the narration of director Li Dongmei, we can fully feel the sincere and sincere emotions and creative attitude. We look forward to the near future, the film can be successfully released in China, meet more audiences, and let this story worth recording and telling reach the hearts of more people.
Li Dongmei is a film director and screenwriter. He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2015 with a degree in Film and Television. Member of the Australian Directors Guild. His graduation work "The Sun Shines on the Grass" won the Best Director Award and the Best Cinematography Award. In 2018, he began the work of the film "Mama and Seven Days", which completed its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2020. Later, it has been shortlisted for busan, Pingyao Vienna and other international film festivals, and won the Pingyao Film Festival Fei Mu honorary best film.
Thank you for coming to see my movie - Bump Mirror interview with director Li Dongmei
Planning interview: Wang Jinwei
Collation and proofreading: Zhang Laodong
Typography: K
Bump Mirror DOC: When did the idea of making this film take root in your mind? Is there a direct relationship between your going to study film and wanting to make this film?
Li Dongmei: After I wrote four scripts, one day, I had a friend ask, do you want to write a movie (script), I will come to you to find money? With this opportunity, I was asking myself, someone is willing to invest in me, what kind of movie do you want to make?
I think I must shoot something very important to me, something that I have to say, the first four scripts have the feeling of being a study, and it is also related to some of my own experiences.
Later, I thought about what stories I really had to tell in my life, and when I thought about it, I thought about the part I had been running away from, and that was what I really needed to tell and face: these memories about before and after my mother's death, especially what happened in those few days after my mother's death, had a subversive meaning for my age, and that memory was something I didn't want to touch. I felt as if I had grown enough to take on that kind of look back. From the second half of 2018 to the second half of 2018 to write the script, to 2019 shooting.
The second question, I didn't think about saying that I would be able to make this movie before, there is no connection between entering film school and this movie, but maybe subconsciously, I have a lot of things in my heart that I want to tell, and this story is not even meant to be told to others, but a self-grooming, I have tried to write before, but there is no particular satisfaction.
When I went to film school to study film, I was naïve and thought that movies could make money, so at that time I wanted to say that if I could make money, I could use it as a fund for the reproductive health of rural women, so that some rural women like my mother would not be so life-threatening when they gave birth.
Bump Mirror DOC: I also saw that when you went in and actually set up a group to start shooting, there was a problem with funds. There have been some unexpected changes in the past.
Li Dongmei: Yes, all the people have already arrived on the set. Not a penny.
My energy in filming is to fight against money, while shooting while borrowing, every day in various ways to borrow, that situation setting has been of great help to my growth.
Bump Mirror DOC: As a debut film, this film faces too many uncertainties, including various difficulties such as funds, but in the end it was successfully filmed, is your heart strong enough during this period?
Li Dongmei: I think I'm quite vulnerable. At that time, I didn't think about it anymore. It's like falling off a cliff, and in the process, you can't think at all, whether I can land safely, it's a huge inertia, like a hurricane pushing you, doing the most intuitive kind of thing, the most instinctive reaction. I don't have time to think about saying that this film can be finished, but I feel that subconsciously, from my relatives and they see this tenacity, they are the kind of people who will never give up.
When I do something, I either don't start, once I start, I won't say I won't finish it, as long as I have a breath, as long as this thing is not a factor of force majeure, artificial words will not say not to finish, so I don't have such doubts, no time, no chance to doubt.
Bump Mirror DOC: The filming of the film as a whole is still in your expected time, without causing a particularly serious overrun or a long delay.
Li Dongmei: My concept of money is extremely vague, when shooting, there is indeed waste, the more lack of money, the more wasteful the situation. Because you may be in some places, experience or staffing relationships are not properly arranged, but some money is wasted. But in general, the shooting time and the final time and the funds are not too outrageous, according to the other independently produced films I learned later, it is still a more reasonable arrangement.
Bump Mirror DOC: I was very impressed by the title of the film, it was called "Mom" at first, then it was changed to "Mom and Seven Days of Time", this "seven", let me have a lot of associations, this number is also very important for you and this movie I think. Why seven days?
Li Dongmei: I myself am relatively reluctant to associate everything and established concepts with those abstract logics. I think the reason I love movies, or the best part of what we call art, is the kind of thing that transcends our rational logic and abstract concepts. So when I wrote the script for this film, I completely abandoned all those things that might be too rational, and I did it completely with intuition and sensibility.
Why seven days? It's because when I was writing the script, I was reminiscing about the last time I met my mom, it was Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and when she died, we were not on vacation, we were in class six days a week, so I reckoned that it was seven days after my mother died, and I felt that the story was finished.
For my own creation, what I am most loyal to is the truth of the emotion in my memory, and I remember how she was, because for me, I am commemorating my mother, so what she is like is a concept above all else for me.
Bump Mirror DOC: So when you create, you deliberately abandon a lot of deliberate craftsmanship of some designs, some concept first some things, are based on intuition to create.
Li Dongmei: Yes, this may be a creative way that I will always practice in the future. When you make a movie, when you want to practice these things, it must be rational, and we must use logic to do our best, otherwise I feel that when we are creating, I hope to play my personal maximum this kind of sensibility, my perception, because in terms of rationality, for example, I have not read enough books, and I know not much truth, but what do I really deserve to share with you?
I think that perhaps some of the most secret emotions and intuitions in my heart, the things that may not be well described in words and logic, are a very precious method of creation for me.
DOC: I'm particularly curious, how did you find the actor who plays the mother in the movie, because this role is so important, she is a pregnant and about to give birth, what kind of efforts are she making in makeup and special styling?
Li Dongmei: I think, I believe that there is something we don't know, when my mother was selected as an actor, I was walking on the street of the town, I saw a woman wearing a red dress on the other side, she was standing there, my friend introduced her, I want to make a movie, this woman took the initiative to tell me, do you want to make a movie? I also want to sign up.
When I first saw her, the feeling was a little different. It wasn't until the end of the film that I learned that she and my mom had one thing in common, which was that my mom and her body shape were very similar to hers, such as the proportions of her body, including her skin color, and the gait of walking.
I didn't realize it that at the time, because she was long-haired, she volunteered to come to play her mother, I told her that there was a lot of death in this play, including blood and these things asked her if she wanted to, including having children, she said it didn't matter, I was surprised, and even more surprised was that her husband was very supportive, if her husband did not support her to do this, she had no way to be in the movie.
We did the audition later, she came to the interview, there was an audition, I felt very suitable, and most importantly, the feeling between me and her was wonderful, like how I felt with my mother.
I have not been very close to my mother, unlike the average daughter who is very close to my mother, and there is something between me and her, but there is a part of mutual communication. When we were shooting, I rarely told her what you were going to do, she was very comprehensible, empathetic, including a scene, on the third night in the movie, back home a few people sat there, there was a butterfly just landed on the mother's knee, I saw the butterfly, all the crew stared with bated breath, I knew how the scene ended, we needed to let the butterfly fly, so I said to her: "You gently get the butterfly away with your hand", her movements are too natural, saying a digression I feel blessed to be able to complete such a work, to have such a blessing.
We have made changes to the actor's hairstyle because my mom is short hair, the actor she used to have long hair, in the art we did a very rough job, but I think she acted very well, pregnant props - belly, we are more than 100 yuan to buy, there is nothing special arranged.
Bump Mirror DOC: I think it's still good that the effect is finally presented to the audience. It's been so many years since your mother died, and maybe even ourselves are older than when your mother died. Over the years, you have grown from a girl to a strong and mature woman. In retrospect, you have a better understanding of the environment in which your mother lived.
Li Dongmei: That's for sure. When I was young, I just thought my mother was very depressed, how unhappy she was, how she always didn't speak as high and so bright as other mothers.
My mother's voice was slow and low, always quiet, but there was still something not so happy in her eyes, and there was hardly a smile. The time I was with her, I can't remember when she had any smiles, only once, her good friend came to our house, she would talk to her while cooking, two women in the kitchen while cooking and chatting, at that time Mom was the kind of person I liked very much, because she was 36 years old, so I often thought about her and her when I was 36.
I think about the trajectory of her life, she married my dad at 24, started being a mom at 25, in the middle of which in addition to these five daughters, she was actually pregnant with 7 or 8 children, almost every year pregnant, I am now a little longer than she was then.
This connection between mother and daughter is particularly magical, I think she is always there, and this person's departure is actually just a departure in a certain dimension.
Bump Mirror DOC: This question is still quite heavy, and I don't want to evoke too many sad things, which is also a kind of magic as a film art, a charm, it can record certain things to restore certain things, let people who have died "come back from the dead", and may even help people to complete things that cannot be done in reality. For example: say goodbye to your mother. I think this is also a great charm of film art.
Li Dongmei: You said this reminds me of this, I don't know if I have said it to other interviews, for me, commemorating my mother is a great comfort. But at the same time I think we are not commemorating this mother, we are commemorating such a mother, we put aside all her identity, her identity as a woman, her identity as a mother, I think we see a life, the situation of time and space that she is in, we have a better understanding of another life.
For example, maybe a woman in Sweden, she has no way to imagine a woman who may be her age, how to live in such an environment, the film can indeed complete such a communication. Sometimes I also hope that these names do not have to be remembered, for example, my name does not have to be known, everyone does not have to remember, but leaving aside the individuals outside of this name, for example, I have come this way, how did I grow up in this process.
Maybe some of my life experiences can have such a communication with many women and men, have a mutual understanding, maybe not be so lonely in life, I think this is also a very beautiful thing.
DOC: This story is actually something that many people can understand, and may represent a fate for thousands of women. It's more of a record or a sense of deductive record than this one itself, and I've always felt that it's very meaningful. I saw in Pingyao that some viewers saw half of it, exited the scene, and then went to Douban to complain, bad reviews, they didn't even have a way to complete the film's viewing, or even to understand what you wanted to express, and then hurriedly gave such an answer.
Li Dongmei: I think this is very good, their attitude is also very real, they truthfully reflect their attitude and feelings about this kind of film, which is very good. For me, for example, this film is like a durian, and it may be a delicious thing for some people. But for some people, he went into the cinema and saw the movie, even if he only watched it for 10 minutes, he tasted a durian and left a taste in his heart that he didn't like. But this has already produced meaning, which means that there is such an expression in the world.
I am looking forward to which day the Douban score becomes three points and four points and a few points, for me to have the opportunity to get so much real feedback of feelings, I think this is very precious, I respect him as he is, I think this is the audience's original attitude towards this type of film, they are not saying that they want to have a bad review, not because they hate me this person or how, he is making such an evaluation of the film itself, I don't think there is any worry, and I don't feel that they shouldn't be like this, On the contrary, I feel that this is the only way to go.
I'm true to myself as a creator, I give them that part of my sincerity, like I'm a chef, I do my best, I use the best ingredients, I serve this thing, but you don't get what you want, it's okay, it's fine.
If you meet a favorite audience, this is a particularly fortunate thing. Feeling that such a mutual understanding and feeling will make people feel a great comfort.
DOC: After I watched the film, I saw these bad reviews, I couldn't suppress my inner feelings, I felt very angry, especially when I saw someone after watching it in Venice, saying "I am worried that such a movie will make foreigners misunderstand China", such an evaluation I feel very sad and sad to see.
Of course. This may mean that there are some Chinese do not believe that such a story has happened widely, or it may be a good thing, and may represent the progress of the times. Such a tragedy may make people feel strange and unbelievable. But on the other hand, I wonder how they can be so ignorant and don't understand these things. When I saw their comments, I was mixed.
Li Dongmei: I rarely pay attention to Douban, I admit that there are my own limitations, the judgment of those who give us bad reviews, may also be our own prejudices, when we say how you can treat such a movie, people can also want to say how you can like such things so much, but I may not be young, and finally know: in fact, this is very good. Because they were so truthful in expressing what they wanted to say, and they were willing to take a few minutes to give me an evaluation and write down their thoughts. I'm all grateful.
I will respect their ideas, and I will also be able to understand so many different people through such a movie, some of their feelings about the same thing, because as long as it is not malicious, I think it is all good.
If you are very deliberate to give me a five-star, I will not necessarily thank you, because that is not your real feelings, if your real feelings are one star, it really does not matter. But inside of me I definitely want more attention, which will make me feel very happy, a natural reaction. But I was also learning, the first time I saw the evaluation on Douban for a moment, you just said that the feeling is the same, but then I thought, there is another reason, I feel that I am a creator, this is a responsibility of mine, I have to bear the criticism and praise.
As a creator, I have such an obligation, some people will praise me, and some people will criticize this work, which are all things that I as a creator should bear, accept and embrace calmly. Otherwise, how do you continue to create, even if you don't create, how do you go and live in your own life very realistically?
Because every day your every behavior is being fed back, how should we get along with ourselves, to deal with this thing, so what others give is what they give, what I do myself, is what I have to do, and it is what I should do.
Bump Mirror DOC: The film won the highest award at the Pingyao International Film Festival, and Fei Mu honored the Best Film Award. Film festivals abroad have also won large and small awards and shortlists, which can be said to be very widely recognized from all over the world.
Li Dongmei: I think vanity has been greatly satisfied. What a wonderful thing it is to be liked, very beautiful. Especially at the Gothenburg Film Festival, they gave me the best debut award for Bergmann Week. Because the name Bergman makes me feel particularly happy, especially happy, how lucky I am to write the name next to Bergman in such a way, and their award speech is also very well written. When I write about it, I have a feeling, tears, and a kind of happiness of being understood. The Fermow Honor Award is another affirmation that comes from its own cultural roots.
Why this thing will be liked, I can't throw this thing away, in my future creations, maybe I want to remind myself, don't forget the original most authentic may also be the most direct and pure some things.
Because I think this movie of mine is really a study, and many aspects of it can really be handled better.
But these people who like him, they have tolerated these flaws, and I think his greatest advantage is that when I was creating this thing, in Buddhist terms, my heart was extremely simple, and I wanted to tell such a story simply, just lucky to be able to share it with people, and I think I should be wary of other things, because when you are affirmed once, you expect to be affirmed a second time.
There's a movie I forgot her name about a woman who is a very ordinary person who was later hailed as a hero, and one day she was invited to an auditorium and unveiled a cloth, and underneath the cloth was a statue made in her image, and she was so angry that she walked away.
At that time, I was very incomprehensible when I watched this film, and now I know that we can't be trapped in this thing, and this may definitely become a constraint, so I have to be vigilant against myself at all times, and I can't get caught up in this. It's like you eat a good popsicle, eat it, it's sweet now, don't remember, I have to think about buying one of these popsicles next time, or I'm going to do the same thing and get some of the attention you want, that's all my homework. This lesson is not done as a director, but as a person I have to do, and it is a life's lesson.
Bump Mirror DOC: Have you started creating a new film?
Li Dongmei: My new script is repeating in my head, almost half a year. The script written before may not be too suitable for my current state of mind to shoot, now the new script, my habit is to think a lot first, and then when it comes to the time when I feel that I can write, it should be in the creative stage.
About this New Asia Workshop
Bump Mirror DOC: What was the impetus for going from director to mentor?
Li Dongmei: I have a classmate who is a student of New Asian Film, I was just shortlisted for Venice at that time, I met Mr. Xiaodong, he invited me to class, I also taught, so I came.
Photography: MC
Bump Mirror DOC: How did you feel about being a mentor at the New Asia Film Workshop?
Li Dongmei: I think the name of mentor is a bit high, and I don't dare to be one. I think I can call it a student sister.
Bump Mirror DOC: Everyone is on their way to learning movies.
Li Dongmei: I have taught middle school students before, junior high school students I have taught for four years, so I always tend to teach these as my junior high school children, I will do my best like a full-time teacher, I must take everything I know, as long as I think, there is a little use for them, I must tell them, as far as possible to let them not take detours, a bit like parents for children, or the eldest sister to the younger siblings below, so afraid of them to suffer those suffering, I especially enjoy sharing with people, I don't think I'm important, what matters is sharing, because sharing produces understanding.
I'm talking about almost eleven years of creative experience from decision to film to now, and the confusion of the past eleven years. Like the female director who had a studio spring editing residency program yesterday, she asked how to establish her own aesthetic style? I said something simple, and then she hugged me and cried, and she burst into tears. She said a word, I think it is very useful and very touched, but I dare not be. She said: "I feel like I see you like I see a light, you are that light." ”
I myself am still in the dark, but it does not affect my own ability. I can be there whenever I need it.
Bump Mirror DOC: Have you ever met a mentor in your creation?
Li Dongmei: My mentor is too much, my first mentor was a primary school Chinese teacher, my Chinese teacher was particularly kind, and my second mentor was a junior high school physics teacher, and he recommended that I read a lot of particularly good books, like "La Traviata", "Anna Karenina", and Kafka's books, which were too rich, so it laid the foundation for my literature.
Later, I read English and American literature at The Sichuan Chinese College, which led me to be willing to tell stories later, maybe sensitive to this kind of storytelling, and in the movie, my first homeroom teacher at the University of Melbourne always encouraged me, because I was actually the worst student in the class, the teacher always said that this is good, well written, and my screenwriting teacher is also, because what I enjoy most is that my script is written until everyone sees tears, or a lot of feelings.
Bump Mirror DOC: What is one of your own movie views?
Li Dongmei: I think that film should do what movies should do, movies should do what other forms of artistic expression can't do, I think movies are like all the most beautiful art, language and words can't reach the place, we need to use movies.
This is my view of the film, I was particularly influenced by Tarkovsky, I also started reading books in my junior year, but I thought it should be like this, the film should not do those books can also do. Then you lose your unique charm.
There are too many roles in movies, and my predecessors have said it very well, and when it comes to me, the role of movies, you have something in mind that you want to talk about in this medium.
BUMP MIRROR DOC: You have also come into contact with so many young creators, will the characteristics of young creators be different from yours now? Or will there be some surprises in their expression, or do you think there are still some imperfections?
Li Dongmei: I think the surprises are more than imperfect, too surprised, very vivid. First of all, I came into contact with these students of New Asia Film, who are particularly willing to put the real thing there, which has been successful, and "truth" is a very important element in my standard.
They are also very strong in learning and feel very strong. When we were in our twenties, we didn't think as deeply as they were thinking about now, and when I talked to them, I was especially surprised that they had a lot of ideas about the world that were very mature relative to their age.
Bump Mirror DOC: Will there be a little worry that they have been going to school, a little far from life, the skills are greater than the connotation, will there be such a thing?
Li Dongmei: You have to give them time, people are people for more than nine years, they have time to live, what they are doing now is what they are doing, when they say things, these words they say now, whether they are dazzling or not, whether they are good or not, whether they are fun or not, it is the best expression of TA at the moment, he grows to 40 years old, 50 years old one day, TA's expression has changed, I think all this happens naturally, there is no external force to impose.
Now that people are in their early 20s, how to talk to you about life, it is not like when I was very young, I experienced those heavy parts, his life did not have those heavy parts, or his life is like this. We can't take our understanding of life and say what they should say.
I think it goes with the flow, and none of them are so-called great artists, relying only on external forces to do anything.
I think it's easy to live, so I told them yesterday, I said you don't think people who don't have to make movies should not force it.
Bump Mirror DOC: What do you think is the help they would most like to receive?
Li Dongmei: I think I feel that they are in the process of searching, and the most important thing they need to get help is to say, I see you are looking, you are very confused now, it doesn't matter, don't be afraid. It doesn't matter if they get confused for a while, I think they need to know something like that.
"Mom and Seven Days"
Director: Li Dongmei
Writers: Li Dongmei
Genre: Drama
Country of Production: Chinese mainland
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Release Date: 2020-09-09 (Venice Film Festival)
Runtime: 134 minutes
Also known as: Little Salty / Mom / Mama
Synopsis:
It's a movie about Mom. "Mama and Seven Days of Time" is a story about seven days in rural China in the 1990s. The story records the memories of Xiao Xian, a twelve-year-old girl, of her family and village. During these seven days, there were three deaths and two births.
Comments from the Gothenburg Film Festival: "This film reminds us that true art cannot be reduced to just the subject matter. Pure cinema is able to make full use of all the mediums of cinema to express, of which the so-called 'content' itself cannot be transformed into other art forms. The legendary film critic André Bazin divided film into films that believe in the composition of pictures and films that believe in facts. Few films can do both, and through the exquisite use of cinematic language and sound, the audience is brought into reality, as if it were a personal experience. It's really remarkable. Through frank expression and courageous minimalism, the director conveys a true emotion full of introspection, inviting all of us to feel it emotionally, intellectually, and even instinctively. The viewer is plunged into an immersive, sensual, contemplative experience that is as close as possible to what the cinematic arts expect. ”
About New Asia Film:
New Asian Filmmakers Collective is composed of filmmakers with Asian cultural identity, love and support cultural sharing, natural connection and growth, the individuals in the alliance use film as a means of expression, with Asian cultural commonalities as the basis of discourse, showing the current ecological culture of Asia, seeking beyond the concept of "Asia" in the sense of historical geography and political economy, and reshaping the vivid image of Asian spiritual culture. The Alliance encourages Asian filmmakers to build their own identities, welcomes other individuals who identify, are curious or unfamiliar with Asian multiculturalism, participate in the interaction and exchange of Asian filmmakers, and join Asian film planning, co-production, technical collaboration, and resource sharing.
**The picture source is not indicated in the text from Douban