The Venice Film Festival opened last week, and this year's Venice Film Festival is full of masters and stars. In the most watched main competition unit, you can see the names of big Hollywood directors such as the Coen brothers, Damien Chazelle, and Alfonso Cuaron, as well as Olivier Assayas, Mike Li and other major European directors.
"Roma", "The First Man on the Moon", "The Favourite", "No Master's Work", and "The Storm" are all annual hits. In the non-competition unit, "A Star Is Born" has its own topicality due to the collaboration between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Orson Welles' posthumous work "The Other Side of the Wind" has always been a major pity in the film industry.
This Venice Film Festival also has Chinese directors. In 2015, Wanma Caidan, who was shortlisted for the Horizon Unit with "Talo", was shortlisted for the Horizon Unit this year with her new work "Killed a Sheep" . It is also the only Chinese film to be shortlisted in the competition section of the Venice Film Festival this year.
Tips: The Horizon section is one of the official competition sections of the Venice Film Festival, but unlike the main competition section, this competition section encourages experimentation and innovation in films, capturing the future aesthetic trends and development trends of international films.
"Kill a Sheep" is adapted from Tsering Rob's short story "Killer" and Wanma Caidan's short story "Kill a Sheep". It tells the story of a truck driver who killed a sheep, and a man who A story about revenge and redemption triggered by the encounter of a Kamba man whose father seeks revenge.
Director Wanma Caidan said that there is a special expression in the story, in addition to the traditional realism, there is also a surreal part. Although it is about revenge, its themes are about the future and hope. "Dream and reality complement each other, elevate and complete the expression of the theme."
The film is the first collaboration between Wanma Caidan and Zedong Films, with Wong Kar-wai serving as the producer of the film. When talking about the reason for the cooperation, Wong Kar-wai said that he liked the sincerity in Wanma Caidan's film very much. As a producer, Wong Kar-wai was deeply involved in everything from the script to the shooting, but he would only make some specific suggestions to make the film perfect.
The film was written and directed by Wanma Caidan. He said that when he wrote the script, he did not strictly follow the content such as sub-scenarios and themes, but arranged the story based on intuition, and completed the character design and plot direction.
However, Hit a Sheep is not an art film in the strict sense , Wanma Caidan said that he would not distinguish too much between commercial films and art films, "Creation is self-expression, but film is different from other art carriers. There are attributes of commodities, and more consideration needs to be done.”
In order to restore the scene and atmosphere, all Tibetan actors are used in the film, and the scenes are shot in Tibet . The shooting location is Hoh Xil, which is more than 5 kilometers above sea level. Here the air is thin, water and electricity are scarce. The crew is also equipped with doctors and crews to prevent emergencies.
Wanma Caidan has always insisted on making excellent Tibetan-language films. Through in-depth and detailed descriptions of Tibetan areas, she explores the struggles of Tibetan people between clinging to the past and embracing the present as society develops.
Hit a Sheep is his sixth Tibetan-language film. The previous "Tibetan Trilogy" - "Quiet Mani Stone", "Looking for Zhimei Deng" and "Old Dog", as well as "Tallo", which was launched in China in 2016, won many domestic and foreign film festival awards, It has been widely praised by the industry.
Since "The Horse Thief" directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, films about people's lives in Tibetan areas have gradually entered the public eye. Last year, "Kang Rinpoche" directed by Zhang Yang had a good box office and word of mouth, arousing the public's attention to Tibetan films. In June this year, Song Taiga's "Ala Jiang Color" won the Best Screenplay and Jury Prize at the Shanghai International Film Festival. In July this year, the debut film "Wangza's Rain Boots" directed by Wanma Caidan and the cutting-edge director La Huajia won the Best Director Award at the FIRST Youth Film Festival. Questions about folklore hunting are fading, and more and more good Tibetan films are emerging.
The rise of Tibetan-language movies has made Tibetan-themed movies more viable, but overall, Tibetan-language movies are still in a niche state. In terms of thematic depth and breadth, Tibetan-language films are waiting for more filmmakers to explore.
In addition to Hit a Sheep, there are two Chinese films screened out of competition, including Zhang Yimou 's Shadow and Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang 's Your Face .
Zhang Yimou has a deep relationship with the Venice Film Festival. In 1991, he directed "Raise the Red Lantern", which was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Award. In 1992 and 1999, he won the Golden Lion Award twice for "The Case of Qiu Ju" and "No One Less".
At this year's Venice Film Festival, Zhang Yimou was awarded the " Glory Filmmaker Award " by the film festival as the first Chinese director for his contribution to the world film industry . The awards ceremony will take place on September 6, along with the world premiere of "Shadow".
The film is inspired by "Three Kingdoms: The Killing of Jingzhou". With the battle of the Three Kingdoms as the background, it tells the story of a little man who has been secretly imprisoned since he was eight years old.
"Shadow" has attracted a lot of attention since it started shooting, mainly because it is the work of Zhang Yimou, who has been controversial in recent years. Compared with Zhang Yimou's dominance in the domestic and foreign film circles in the 1990s, Director Zhang's movements have been slow in recent years, his posture is old-fashioned, and the theme is Chen and heavy. It is said that the two posters of "Shadow" were produced for half a year.
After watching the trailer and stills of "Shadow", you will find that Zhang Yimou has continued his visual effects bombing over the years . Every Zhang Yimou film has its own color. In the past, he used strong colors to interpret folk customs. This time, the color has taken a back seat, and there are hidden murderous intentions in the clouds and flowing water. The quiet and elegant ink painting artistic conception can just convey the core of the oriental culture of the film .
In order to achieve the best ink style, the film uses ultra-high-definition 5K real shooting scenes, and the viewing experience is destined to be extraordinary. In addition, the actors of this film must have strength and strength, and must have traffic. It also made the film very popular. "Shadow" has been set for September 30, and the film will soon be seen on the domestic big screen.
Cai Mingliang is also an old face of the Venice Film Festival. He won the Golden Lion Award for "Long Live Love" in 1994, and the Jury Prize for "Outing" in 2013. This is the eighth time he has been invited to premiere the film in Venice.
Regarding the new work "Your Face", Cai Mingliang said that this film " is not a documentary, nor a drama, it is a movie. I spent two months on the street looking for a face that made me feel, a little bit. I searched for him in the crowd, and in the end, every face that came into my camera was a composition, a landscape, and it was worth savoring; of course, there was still Xiaokang (actor Li Kangsheng), whose face has been my film for more than 20 years. "
The film's soundtrack is the famous Japanese music master Ryuichi Sakamoto . Ryuichi Sakamoto's musical styles are diverse, transcending the framework of pop, classical, jazz, electronic, ethnic and other musical genres. Cai Mingliang was a fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto when he was young. He said: "If I didn't meet him on the beach in Venice last year, I think it is very likely that my movies would never have soundtracks. Collaboration is like an adventure of life, exciting and enjoyable.”
Cai Mingliang once said that he has lost his enthusiasm for movies. But "Your Face" seems to let us not see the different Cai Mingliang, washes away the brilliance, and interprets the most primitive throbbing that the movie brings us in the most unpretentious way.
For more information, pay attention to the WeChat public account: Huanyu Xingman
View more about Shadow reviews
