interview with wang xiaoshuai

8/13/2019 Interview with Wang Xiaoshuai

1/7

magazm

BRUCE NAUMANSERGIO PREGOJO O ONOFREEDER S NTOSD NIEL CANOGARWANG XIAOSHUAIFR NCIS ALYSB LT Z R TORRESVICTOR HUGO


2/7

, 1 Vni,crsidad Complutcnse dt ~ l a d r i d y un mas-. J Imagen t 11 '1 d' Cil'nnas de 1 . I 1,urnauonal Center for Photography cn 1990. Ha( ,uti l,,tll I l l ' k U,i,crslt) ) l I . ' ' ] ' t .I> nr ( .ull'll \ I 1, 11 Nc" 'lor 1 1 . hdrid PalaCIO de vc azquez, 1v adnd; the Kuns-J) uri ( . l l l l ~ . . f 1c;r.lh


3/7

ENTREVISTA CON WANG XIAOSHUAIINTERVIEW WITHWANG XIAOSHUAIENTREVISTA COM WANG XIAOSHUAI

..debemos continuar haciendo pellculas indepen-dientes. para que al menos una p e q u F i a porcion denuestra cultura fi1mica sea mantenida

I

, , u 1du en - . h , m ~ h . t i tn )9bb, \\,ut't Xi.tt"hu.u It 111.1 (L" mo n c u.Uidu \ 1 1 \ ) t < ~ d u \ tr r.a l.ul1anti,, ( u , ~ . m ~ . un.t )lfJhtc) ;ti,J.tdd t iutbd tn l.u. I1U1f1loll).a\ drldJU'fJ\1fKI3 dt ( ,uulauu pCffiU' L1t.thrlc .t "lltn..tclrc: fu


4/7

INTERVIEW WITH WANG XIAOSHUAIBom 1n Shangha1 1n 1966, Wang Xk oshuat was

tw months old when hiS parent left for GUiyang. apoor and tsol.tted c1ty tn the mountatns of GUtzhouprov1nce. because htS mother's factory was relocatedto form a "Third Ltne of Defence agatnst the SovtetUnton.This tS v,1guely the setting for Wang Xtaoshuat'sSh.mghl' Dre,mJS. wmner of the Spectal jury Pnze atCannes 2005 In 1979. his famtly moved to Wuhan.where Wang expenenced for the first ttme the luresof matenalism tn a metropolis. He moved to Betjlngtn 1981 and enrolled tn the Department of Dtrectmg.Betjlng Ftlm Academy.tn 1985. H1s early films were underground projects. whtch landed htm bnefly on theblackhst of the Ftlm Bureau. At the 200 I Berhn International F1lm Festtval. h1s epng cycle (2000) fetchedh1m the Stiver Bear Award.

Shanghai Dreams tnaugurated the seventh Ostan's-Ctnefan Ftlm Festtvaltn New Delht, the only festtval tn the world With a spec1ahzed focus on Astanctnema. Dunng the festtval, ardo magazme talks toWang Xiaoshuat about the role of a filmmaker tnboomtng Ch1na and the broad themes that threadh1s films.

Qu1te a number of you r ilms are about the hvesof young people 1n China Is that penod a particularly memorable one 1n your life?

Subconsciously. rt IS easter for me now to wnteabout that penod of ltfe. I'm 39 -just past the stageof betng young. Suddenly. Im tn a pos1tton to makemov1es. Naturally. I'm more confident of expresstngmy feel1ngs accurately through the hves of youngpeople. There tS a sense of tnnocence that is unmtstakab e tn that penod of hfe. ut maybe m a year ortwo, my themes will cl'k1nge.

I have yet to make a film that can be called autobtographtcal Shanghai Dreams tS vaguely so. When Iwas young. I had no sense of where I was from asmy famtly moved around qUite a brt In fact I have ascnpt that shares the same b


5/7

bu king money. there ISTodly as everyone IS sy ma .I h rrtage may be unus danger that our cultura eseno . eoaldermlned. The other problem IS education. esp -

ny people are unly rn the rural areas. where so maeducated.

. 1 d Flms are not toolsA filmmaker's ab1lrty IS 1mrte 1of social change, but they may bnng about attitUdinalSh ifts. Ch ina's film culture ISalso surrendenng to Hollywood. the beacon of capita lism. and becoming atool of profits. However; Cnema is a cu ltural artifactthat we cannot afford to lose.

While consumer products try o alrgn themselvesWith culture as part of he1r market1ng strategres, nobody IS wrlltng to talk about "genu1ne" culture, which1nclude c1nema Therefore. wemust pers1st 1n making1ndependent films. so that at least a very small bit ofour film culture is reta1ned.

People have suggested that I should bankroll thesuccess of 5hanghaJ OreiJms and make commenc1alfilms. It's true that I can 1ndeed take money out of hevrevvers' pockets on a short term bas1s. However, rf Icontrnue to work 1n Independent onema I'm actually putt1ng money back 1n the vrewers' pockets on thelong-term, because I'm do1ng my bit to educate ouraud1ences 1n the culture of c1nema. I have always expressed gratitude to v1ewers who have sat throughmy films whrch are not very grat1ying to the senses because they have done somethmg for the culture of Ch1nese Cinema by watch1ng such films.

What do you feel about Ch1na today?Rap1d growth has gone alongsrde an eros1on of

morals and values. Everyone wants to be rich us1ngwhatever means poss1ble. It's l1ke a plague. espec1altywhen It .eems that only the unscrupulous are succ ~ f u i T h e way they make money reveals an Inherentlnsecunty, as though the future IS bleak and the nghtto lndMdual possesSion may suddenly be revoked.

We need a strong-h.lnded approach from thegovernment to curb this trend At the same t 1me.weneed to stress the Importance of preserving our cul-tural hent.age through educatron H . oweve 1 as a film-

maker. 1cannot afford to wart I have to pers1st Withmy ltmrted capacity.

In the first place, culture and economy shouldStogether. In recent years, Ch1nese crnemarogres

has been well rece1ved overseas. But rt rs not asthough we didn't have anyth1ng good to show to theworld 1n the past. Because of the weakness of oureconomy. it was harder for fore1gners to see. for example. the beauty of BeiJing opera.

o you think your films work as documentanesof Ch1na undergo1ng rap1d change?

1don't th1nk rt works 1n such a literal manner. Belpng cycle (2000) 1s a typical example. The censorsdidn't want to pass it based on the ratJonale that Ishot too many hutongs (old alleyways) and notenough of Beijing's skyscrapers.This 1s nd1culous. China is progressing by pull1ng down everyth1ng. ""h1ch1s still cheaper than preservat1on of. let's say. our -tongs. They don't realrze that once our heritage 1stom down, the change 1s 1rrevers1ble.

In the future, they will have to find 1mages of h.Jtongs from photographs and films. like Be ng c;deIn th1s sense, my films take on a documentary funct1on. S1m1larly. the h1storrcal background to ShanghaiDreams S hardly documented 1n Ch1na.

Go1ng away IS a recumng theme 1n your films, partJcu larly 1n Diflet-s and Shanghai Dre.m IS.Why 1s rt so?

Go1ng away fulfils our escapist fantas1es that theworld outs1de 1s bette.:Th1s sense of go1ng ava} hasperhaps come fium my expenence of dnfting fiumplace to place. Even 1n the same area. y fam11\ \'\asalways relocat1ng. As a ch1ld. every ne\'\ env1ronmentmeant a long and pa1nful process of mak1ng fnends.Of course, rt became eas1er 1s I gre\\ olde-

There is always the p1-esence of a father figur-e 1nyour films. Most of the t1me. your protagon1sts endup fight1ng c ~ g a n s t them. Is th1s your personal e>-penence Ol does rt work .1s 1 metaphor/

It is very common for m ~ l e s to tum 1-ebell1ousagainst the11 f,1thers 01 teachers when they reach 13.


6/7

much ke the way a shoot pushes through the mud.In S 1dnghJJ Dre Jms there arc some references topo ucs but there are other ang es thdt VIewers cant.lke when watch ng the fi m I d1dn t plan for themetaphor but I could a so see the symbolism thatcame naturally With the scnpt In fact. the presenceof the f.1ther figure IS common to most films madeby f:fth or s1xth generaton Ch1nese d1rectors. s1mplybecc1use our scnpts are often about young people.

It I were a cnt1c, my approach would necessanlyh,rve to be different from the filmmaker: The cnticbnngs h1s or her background 1nto the analysis of ilmsand can read a film us1ng anyth1ng fium symbolism,human1sm or aesthetics.

Why are you attracted to realism?First of all, let s not forget that the filmmaking In-

dustry in Ch1na IS comparatively backward. With abudget of about 700.000 yuan, making a film aboutone s dreams IS already 1mposstble, let alone films offantasy or hypeJTeahsm. For the stxth generation d1-

/ l t I J I I I J : f l t c H / t ( ~ l d i , . IMIU II Cllllh W 1111 11 1"11

rectors. we somet1mes don't even have t.Pe moneyto bu ld 1 room 1n the stud1o. Therefore. our ma1nconcern s always to complete the film, wh1ch s whyour films are naturally steeped 1n reahsm. Our at-traction to reahsm IS a result of the economiC con-straints put on us. Well, even tf I want to make mychar-acters fly 1n my film, I can't Only when you havethe budget, like ZhangYimou or Ang Lee rn the1r re-cent films. can you cl'ange your style.

Look at the ~ w W w e d 1 1 e c t o r S from around theworld: most of thetr early films conta1n elements ofrealism. Often, 1t IS the young filmmaker who has anattttude and a strong sense of purpose. e or she ISstruggling aga1nst the established, wh1ch naturallymeans that the young filmmaker has limted budget

What do you th1nk are the reasons of your success?

I really don't know. in Ch1na. there is a JOke abouta group of people coming together to make a film.The pmducer asks them for the1r strengths One of

d


7/7

I

them says he IS a painter: so the producer gets himTh ther says he likesto be the artistiC dwector e o

L nd so he becomes the onematographotograp Y apher Then, someone says he doesn't know anything.And the person becomes the drector

Every du-ector IS very differentThe backgroundth.1t he or she bnngs Into a film IS perhaps hiS or hermost precrous component. For example, my realism1s def1n1ely d1ferent fr-om Hou Hs1ao Hs1en's one,because his experiences are Irreplaceable.

Of the films you have made, wh1ch IS yourfavounte?I don t th1nk I have made my best yet. All theseyears. I have worked under very difficult condit1ons,'lvhch limited my scope of express1on. There havebeen many regrets along the way. So I feel I can stillmake a better film. However: for emotional reasons,Iwill not forget my first film, when I had a budget ofonly I00.000 yuan in 1992, that was aboutUS 1 0.000 and everyone scraped and struggled tomake rt a realrty

From the days when your films were banned tothe recent award at Cannes, your fortunes havecrangcd dramatically Over the years, how has yourpsyche changed 1n relatron to your life as a filmmaker?

I took on anothng-to-lose attitude when I started to make films. If everything fell apart, I was quitesure that my basic rights as a Chinese citizen wouldstill be protected. Of course, I was lucky that the sooety was already open1ng up.

Therefore, one more film made meant a smallstep forward I was qurte sure rt was the nght directlon to take. Pan was only assoCiated wrth doubtsthat my gauge of the future would be wrong. be-cause on a micro level, whether a film was ba dmerely r nnecpresented rts lndrvrdual fate.

Ihave made films for 12 years Ipenod f now. t IS not a longo time But rt rs not short erther. For the Ch'nese every 12 years represents a cycle and a renew-

al. My award at Cannes IS t1mely and the Ch1nesemedia has naturally gven it much coverage. More1mportantly. 1t means that the Chmese market is stillw11ng to embr-ace Independent c1nema

You have used names of the protagonists as theanginal Ch1nese t1tles of Shanghai reams and[hfters The English translation seems too literalWhat do you think?

1 agree.The translation comes from my drstributor who doesn t understand Ch1nese. At the sametime, my command of he language is not enough tosuggest an English trans lation. Of course, it is impossible to have a direct translation from the Chinese t1tles.There is also a slight sense of contemptuousnessto Chinese cinema because 1t is m1nority culture 1nthe west.Therefore, the dlstrrbutor prefers titles thatare even more literal than Hollywood flrcks. Personally. Shangha reams sounds qurte stup1d to me.

Ch1nese films have struggled to penetrate the lndan market, vrce versa. Do you th1nk the reasons arecultural?

The film Industry in India rs very 1nterest1ng. Frommy limrted knowledge, I think Bollyvvood produces800 films a year.The themes in the films are very similar:There is love and revenge, set agarnst the disparity of the rich and the poor. Amidst the narrative, adance sequence may suddenly break out.And muchto our envy. Indians turn out full force to supporttheir films.

On the other hand. Chinese films have nevershared a unlfytng characterrstrc. What s representative ofChinese Cinema? Some people may say un -fi J films. But martal art flcks are actually populanzedby HK directors.

I'm still tryng to leam more about lndtan Clnema.J

interview with wang xiaoshuai

Documents